CorelDraw Graphics Suite X6 contains both CorelDraw and Paintshop Pro. Between those two programs you have everything you need for creating cool graphics or enhancing images. CorelDraw is quite expansive and a lot to learn, especially when you’re on your own. Thankfully, there’s tutorials offered by Corel and plenty on Youtube. Corel’s included guidebook is a gem! It goes over the different tools you can use. While the hardback book add heft to the package, it is worth it’s weight with the information it carries.

I’ve been enjoying using PaintShop Pro X5 to add pop or fix my photos. Many times, the built in fix and filters do all the work with minimal input from me. The results have been very pleasing. However, the only thing I’m not overly fond of is the interface. If I pop on too many menu bars, the image I’m working on is reduced in size to accomodate everything. I usually end up undocking the menus so that the image comes back up in size.

Corel Painter X3 is an amazing digital palette for digital artists. A large array of brushes and techniques, ability to choose your canvas textures, mix and match your styles, and so much more. This is in-depth artist software that goes beyond just digital painting. I have fallen in love with Painter X3 already from my casual artist point of view. I can pull from my past experience from other graphic and photo programs with items such as layers, cut/paste, effects, etc.

Rating: 5 StarsnnWhy: PowerDVD finally lives up to its title. With TruTheater effects, better controls, remote access, and so much more, you go beyond just being able to watch a movie on you computer. You enjoy your own mini movie theater experience. For years I’ve put up with Cyberlink’s OEM products on my laptops or desktops, but never really enjoyed them. I found them clunky to use. Nothing about it ever made me want to shell out money to buy the upgrade.

I was so excited to have the opportunity to try Corel’s VideoStudio Pro X2, but after I got it and loaded it on my PC, I realized a major problem. My PC did not meet the minimum requirements to run this program. To it’s credit, the VideoStudio Pro X2 worked on my PC, but the process of doing anything was so sloooooow. Either starting it or selecting another option, the lag was dreadful.

GLO is a visually stunning bible program with so much to offer. Gorgeous graphics, a unique interface, beautiful easy-on-the eyes bible pages, and so much more it’s overwhelming. You can go from casual reading to in-depth historical research with a few clicks. There’s so much to GLO…I’m still discovering stuff about it. GLO at its base offers the bible in five versions, an atlas, a timeline, topical, media, and a place for your stuff.

Serif PagePlus Essentials is a cool desktop publishing program. I appreciate that I can quickly get started in making good looking signs and posters without complications or learning curves. It comes with templates you can use for quick projects, but if you want to design something attractive from scratch, you can do that too. I prefer creating from scratch, I find it’s sometimes a lot easier to get the effect I want.

This Stopmotion Studio is just what I needed for both me and my son to have fun making stop motion videos and overall experimenting with creative film making. Unfortunately, I only have a portable web came to use with the Stopmotion Studio software. I hope soon to get something better, but even now it works for use to experiment with software. The interface has a lot to it, but you quickly learn your way around it.

Despite what the description says, it’s not really suitable for those who are just dabbling. The user interface has a ton of menu options and isn’t quite as intuitive as I’d like for the novice/dabbler. However, at this price for 3 users you get both an advanced photo editor and a publisher style document creator, so it is a pretty good bang for your buck. The only thing I didn’t like was that fact that it nags you at every startup to create an account in order to use online templates and objects.

I have previous versions of Microsoft streets and trips and have used it numerous times for maps and vacation plannning as well as it’s GPS capabilities. Microsoft Map Point is basically the big brother of MS streets and trips, however it adds the ability to download maps to a gps device (which is definitely a nice add-on and something I wish streets and trips could do) and it adds the ability to import or link contact location data from MS Outlook and display it custom maps - beyond that, I can’t see where it really adds enough features to be worth the much higher price they charge for Map Point as opposed to Streets & Trips.