I am looking for a program that will allow me to view the pictures of the designs without having to open the file completely. Sort of like when you are viewing your pictures on the computer.

this is a great program for $25, you can download a demo to see if you like it. I do.

Embird with the iconizer. Expensive, but you can do so much with it. Resize, change stitch order, delete parts, merge parts from other patterns. I can go on. There is one out there that was mentioned here the other day for $25 I think, but I lost the link. somebody will put it back for you. But Embird is the best money I've spent on Embroidery.