picasa

If you are like most digital camera users and have files and files full of photos, but spend way to much time looking for just the right one, or if you have several different digital image programs on your computer, maybe it's time to simplify with Picasa.

One of the many free Google tools available on the web, Picasa is the easiest and most intuitive/user friendly program I have found to organize and manage digital images. Photo thumbnails are always visible and are listed by the date they were taken (and you can change details like this if you find that your photos were stored with the wrong dates attached). There is a very cool "timeline" feature that lets you scroll through your images by date. You can tag items so they are easily searchable, create web albums to share with friends and family, manage the printing process, upload and order prints online. It is a very feature rich program.

In addition to the organizational features, Picasa also includes all the basic photo editing tools that most people need for everyday use. There is even a magic "auto correct" button that lets Picasa decide what to change for you. But don't worry - Picasa always saves the unedited original for you in case you don't like the edits you make.

I can't say enough good things about this program - I don't know what I'd do with out it.