I used the previous version of PaintShop and liked it AFTER taking two short courses to learn it. It does a lot of cool things but is not simple. However, this version has an Express feature that does not have the steep learning curve, so anyone with software experience can do basic photo editing. That said, my tool of choice is still Photoshop. It also has a steep learning curve but once you are used to it, it’s great.

PhotoDirector is a picture editing program that works on both Mac and PC. I installed it first on my MacBook and ran into a few challenges. Since my laptop is a lightweight one that has no CD/DVD drive, I downloaded the software. I experienced some confusion on the site due to popups that would not close (on Safari browser). The download at 247 MB was very slow. For some reason I had to register twice.

When I ordered this it was listed as Photo Editing Software with a description emphasizing the ways it can fix your images. After watching Corel’s introductory video and trying the software, I would classify it as a file management tool that happens to perform editing tasks. In that repect, it is similar to Lightroom. It is not as powerful as Lightroom but it is affordable and does not require a subscription.

I started to install this on my new laptop but it already has the new Norton 360 on it. Some programs will work together but this one wants to be the ONLY security program on the computer. My old Norton had expired on my old Dell desk top so I thought I’d try this on it. First I had to remove Norton and Norton’s utilities and I didn’t really like that.

Had AVG before this without a bit of a problem. McAfee went through and removed everything that was security or virus protection before it installed. Wasn’t very happy with that since if install failed it would leave my computer wide open with no defense. It doesn’t want to fallow the schedule for scanning time that I’ve set for it. I’m never sure when its going to do a scan and it usually does it when I’m in the middle of doing something and it usually drags everything to a stop when it does.

My Dell Studio Laptop came with the MS Office Home/student 2007 and Vista on it. The MS Office and Widows Vista worked as usual, sporadically with frequent problems, stalls, loss of work, etc. When I had a chance to try the WordPerfect Office X5 Home/Student I could hardly wait to get my hands on it. I recently upgraded from Windows Vista to Windows 7 so I cant say if this is compatible with Vista or not.

I have had the free version of this on my computer for at least a couple of years. That one has saved me from several bad web sites and has been well worth installing it. I didn’t really think that the full version would be that much different but it is. When having it running while doing a search, in the results it will tell the safe sites from the bad and catch about 90% or more of the bad ones.

This is the worst antivirus program I’ve ever tried to install in my computer. First of all it wanted to be the only antivirus program and it removed my AVG, McAfee, and a couple of adware programs that I had. Then it would get part way through the install and lock up. I never did get it to finish the installation. The last time that I tried to install it, it said that it had already been installed on 3 PCs and couldn’t be installed in another one.

When I tried to install this it wanted me to uninstall my other spyware and addware, which I wasn’t too happy about since those worked pretty good and were just out dated. After removing my other programs I tried to install this, and my laptop stalled out. I finally had to remove the battery to shut it down. I should have left it alone at that point but I thought I should try it one more time.

Well I guess its my own fault for not reading everything but at the time that I picked this on my vine list the information on it wasn’t very clear. I thought I was ordering a external DVD drive. And it was probably more wishful thinking since I really need a new DVD drive for my laptop. Since it’s a program and my DVD drive isn’t working I cant install it right now.