Can't open Photoscape from the context menu

Photoscape is my choice of photo editors. When I'm browsing through photos, and I want to edit a particular picture, theoretically I should be able to right-click on the photo to bring up the context menu, and then with the "open with" option, choose Photoscape as the program with which I would like to edit the photo. And if Photoscape is not listed, I should then be able to browse to it and open it with its executable file. Well it is never listed and when I browse to its executable (PhotoScape.exe) it will not open, it just sits there unresponsive, with the "open with" dialog box still open. I can chose another of the listed programs and that program will open, or I can browse to an unrelated program, Quicken, for example, and Quicken will open. There is nothing wrong with the Photoscape executable, because I can go into Windows Explorer and browse to that same .exe file, and it will open with no problem. I understand there are other ways to edit the photo with Photoscape, but I'm just hung up on why this won't work. Thank you.

here is one possibility...anti virus programs see a .exe file as something to be blocked and may be actually blocking it (check your anti virus programs log file)--it is usually possible to launch your AV program and set an 'exception' rule to allow specific .exe files to be opened--how depends on what AV program your using.

an example of this situation: Malwarebytes and Microsoft Security Essentials don't play nice together unless you set an exception in MSE

tman69, thanks for your reply.
I could see this as a possibility if ALL .exe files were blocked, but I can open any of the suggested programs, and any executable I browse to except the Photoscape executable. I'm just wondering why it is only this one .exe file that I cannot open.
However, just to be sure, and to leave no stone unturned, I disabled my AV program, and I still was not able to open Photoscape in the context' menu's "open with" command.

Again, thanks for taking the time to reply to my post!

have you tried going into the 'default programs' control panel and setting Photoscape as default?

although note: some 'free' programs don't have the code to function this way as they usually don't use an installer (PhotoFiltre is an example) they just run in place--I use PhotoFiltre, it works perfectly, but it does NOT show in the 'Programs and Features' control panel--I don't have it set as default, nor does it show in the context menu--but I don't use that kind of workflow.