How To Use Photoshop Plugins With IrfanView

Download Irfanview & Irfanview Plugins Pack

Download these programs to your computer:

Optional: You might prefer to download the 64-bit Irfanview, though some Photoshop plugins don't work with 64-bit Irfanview:

You'll also need some Photoshop plugins to experiment with, like namesuppressed's Softener 2.

If you haven't already installed Irfanview, do that now. Look for the file you downloaded named iview4xx_setup.exe and double click it to run it.
Find the Irfanview Plugins Pack installer, called Irfanview_plugins_4xx_setup.exe. Double click on it to run the installer.

Run the IrfanView program. Look on your desktop or Start Menu for the IrfanView icon and double click it:
Open an image file (try a JPEG / .jpg file) by clicking on the File -> Open menu.
Now press Ctrl-K on your keyboard to bring up the Adobe 8BF Filters window. You can do this by holding down the Ctrl key on your keyboard and tapping the K key. Or you can choose Image -> Adobe 8BF PlugIns -> Filter Dialog... from the menu. (“Adobe 8BF” is another name for “Photoshop plugins”.)
This window shows all the plugins that are setup to work with IrfanView. So far we haven't setup any, so click the button labelled Add 8BF filters (Folder) to setup our first one.
Choose a Photoshop Plugin filter you've installed (eg namesuppressed's Plaid Lite plugin) and find the folder where you installed it. Then click the OK button.
If everything went to plan, you should now see the name of the plugin in the left of the window. If you want to run the plugin now, click on the plugin name (eg Plaid Lite, Softener 2), then click the Start Selected Filter button.
All done! Next time you want to run a Photoshop plugin, just open an image, press Ctrl-K on the keyboard, click on the plugin name with the mouse, and click Start Selected Filter.