Review by J. Sullivan

I’ve always been able to work with ease within Paint Shop Pro, and X5 is no exception. Version X5 offers Paint Shop Pro’s tools in a three-tab interface consisting of the main drawing window, an effects window and an organizer window in which to manage content resources.

I originally installed this on Windows 7, but I recently did a fresh upgrade to Windows 8 and it has worked fine having been hosted on both operating systems.

The interface looks great. The tools are well organized, and are easily accessible. The software is intuitive enough to make for a fine graphics and photo editor for new and old users alike. It offers layered editing, and it’s got very powerful, smoothly operating features.

I was initially not as eager to see the interface get split into three parts, but in all fairness, I do believe the effects page is better off on its own tab. I think it was the organizer that bothered me most, since I’ve always used Window’s own folder explorer tools to deal with organization; to have an organizer tab only adds to the bulk of the program when loading up. Switching between the three interface tabs takes a second going back and forth, but I figure if I’m doing any one task I will not be jumping around too often.

The tool set provides a great starting point for the graphic artist on a budget. It’s the perfect package for those who want something flexible enough to be creatively useful, but inexpensive enough to be affordable. I have noticed that, at times, the Ultimate edition can be found for only five dollars more, so if bonus filters and photo editing hoopla sound good, you might want to compare the Ultimate Edition before you commit to either version. Either one makes will enhance your computing experience if you don’t already own any graphics, or photo editing software.