Use as Featured Image Settings Question

[lightchaser_f64 0]

This may have been asked before, but if I import an image on a post and what to have a thumbnail generated on the site it seems like I have to select "use as featured image" in the back end. It their any way to change settings so that it will use the images imported by default? What I am trying to avoid in activating Platform Pro on an established blog with thousands of images and having to re-import those images just to be able to select "use as featured image" so the thumbnails display. Any thoughts?

[kastelic 6]

Theres plugins and custom code methods out there to do this, not sure on the reliability of them. Here's one I just found http://wordpressapi.com/2010/12/20/set-post-image-featured-image-automatically/