09/17/2010
I did some research on photo organizing programs. I can now recommend one. The two best free photo organizer programs are by Google (Picasa) and Microsoft (Windows Live Photo Gallery). Overall, I prefer Picasa.
Picasa advantages: batch editing—including batch file renaming (not available in Photo Gallery), automatic redeye removal—can do a batch of photos at once (more convenient than the manual redeye removal tool that Photo Gallery provides—involves clicking one eye at a time), text-on-photo tool (not available in Photo Gallery), poster mode printing (print a single giant-sized copy of a photo using multiple sheets of paper—not available in Photo Gallery), collage creator (view your photos on screen as a scattered pile—not available in Photo Gallery), movie maker (make a slide show with your photos and music files—Photo Gallery won’t add music).
Windows Live Photo Gallery advantages: uses the newer ribbon-style toolbars (very nice—looks and feels just like a Microsoft Office 2010 program—Picasa’s toolbars are atypical), uses the scroll wheel on your mouse or trackball (Picasa ignores your scroll wheel), panorama stitching (combine multiple photos—for example a mountain range—into one large image—not available in Picasa).
The simplest way to download, install and maintain Picasa is to click here: (http://pack.google.com/intl/en/pack_installer.html). Click each checkbox until only Picasa is checked, then click the “Download now” button.
The simplest way to download, install, and maintain Windows Live Photo Gallery is to click here: (http://explore.live.com/windows-live-essentials-beta). Click the “Download now” button, then choose only the programs you want (Photo Gallery).
Choose either program or get both like I did. Contact me if you have questions.