I’ve happily used MS Paint as my basic bitmap editor since Windows 3, almost 25 years ago. Mostly I’ve used it to create images from screenshots, but that has suddenly become way harder. Formerly, when I’d cut a region, the now-empty region would display using the default white background. Now it displays a checkered background like so.
Here is the procedure to refill the white background:
- Switch the foreground color to white
- Use the Fill tool to fill the checkered region
- Then switch the foreground back to black.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
Nope. It’s evidently an unintended consequence of a pair of new feature: layers and transparency.
To get started, click on the new Layers button in the toolbar, which will open a panel on the side of the canvas.”
Microsoft also revealed today that an upcoming Paint feature is support for image transparency, which will add the ability to open and save transparent PNG files.
During editing, users will notice a prominent checkerboard pattern displayed on the canvas, serving as a visual indicator and highlighting the transparent regions within the image.
This ensures that when content is erased from the canvas, it is completely removed, eliminating the need to cover unwanted regions of an image with white fill.
I never asked for these “long-awaited” new features, Paint is (or was) useful to me precisely because it only does the kind of basic bitmap editing I need when compositing screenshots. But I can opt out, right?
Nope.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
Nope.
This feature (layers and image transparency) seems to be introduced in September 2023 and doesn’t actually allow to be turned off.
Doing what vengy proposes for each and every image being edited is a natural madness and will drive even the most sane person crazy.
What worked for me was to uninstall Paint and replace it with a classic version:
- Uninstalling can be done by simply right-clicking Paint icon in Start Menu and selecting Uninstall from context menu.
- Classic Paint can be get from here or here.
- Download and install it.
- Go to Settings → Apps → Apps & Features → More settings → App execution aliases.
- Toggle the switch to Off for mspaint.exe and pbrush.exe items.
Evidently people are willing to hack their systems in order to revert to a now-unsupported version that they prefer. As insane as it would be, I’m considering whether to become one of those people. Sigh. I guess 25 years was a pretty good run.
Oh man,… indeed, MSPaint had one job. O-N-E!
Right?
On the opposite end, on my modern Apple laptop I can run classic MacPaint in an emulator called Sheepshaver!
Is there a name for the opposite of enshittification- is it “de-enshittification”?
On my MacOS I’d champion the text and code app I have used since 1993, BBEdit, aka “software that does not suck.” Also add to that the FTP app I think I started, and still use, Fetch(https://fetchsoftworks.com/) — not just for the running dog icon when it is transferring. There is a story on the site somewhere where Jim Matthews, the original developer who built it while a student at Dartmouth, was able to purchase the software rights with his winnings from the “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” TV show.
These are software where you feel like it is run by a real person.
Although there are ways to downgrade (what an inappropriate term!) I should probably just take Gavin’s advice and move on. I try to avoid unnecessary nostalgia, and in the end it’s a certain kind of simple basic bitmap editing I care about, not the app that delivers it.
Fair enough. I cited BbEdit and Fetch not as nostalgia but software I still use in 2024, that rather than being enshrined, are even better now.
Then it’s not nostalgia at all!
I think I have found an acceptable workaround for Paint, hope it pans out because none of the obvious alternatives are as simple for the simple things I use Paint for.
Press F12 in IrfanView to “paint” while avoiding layers.
Keeping it simple.
Maybe that’ll be the one, thx.