cindee,
i've always found photobucket to be buggy & unreliable. i cannot highly enough recommend google's photo service, which is integrated into picasa, far and away the best photo organizer available for pc's (my mac friends snort derisively). picasa allows you to organize & edit photos, then post them (up to a gig! which is A LOT) onto the web and share them through forums like this one. it also puts together great slide shows.

all of this totally for free. and if you have figured out photobucket, then you can surely figure out picasa.

you can download picasa here:
http://picasa.google.com/

small program. it will start up & automatically begin to organize your photos by date. it might take a while. then, just push the buttons to make it go...

I've heard very good things about Picasa, and even downloaded it, but I've never used it. I've never had any trouble with Photobucket, so I guess my thinking has been, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." And I use PaintShop Pro to view my photos on my computer, since it is the graphics program I do all my artwork in, so I haven't needed Picasa for the viewing and arranging, either. But I really ought to at least look at it, I reckon.

Cindee, I've never had any problem like that with Photobucket so I can't help ya. Maybe there is something on your computer that is incompatible with it, so changing over to a program like Picasa might be the answer. I know I infinitely prefer Photobucket to Snapfish and Webshots for sharing photos HERE, but Picasa might be just the answer for what you've got going on.

Marcia

I just downloaded to Picasa it was so easy and fast. I think that I'm going to enjoy it allot.
Thanks for your recommendation.

Felix

Thanks guys, maybe I'll load Picasa. i never had any probs with Photo Bucket since I switched to it. I was having a horrid time with Webshots, but found Photo Bucket so easy to use. Well, let me see if I can get the Picassa going! Thanks again all.

I have webshots and have not had any trouble.

Testing

{{gwi:937635}}

YAY Picasa works!!

I use both for years now Picasa2 is great for tweaking photo's etc. but photo bucket is for adding pics. to forums etc. so you really need photo bucket, have had no problems with it however would never ever have AOL...they are nothing but trouble...just like norton/symantic...nothing but problems..

I'm with susieq on this subject! I have a deep mistrust of AOL and all it's minions. I've never had a problem with Photobucket and have recommended it for years. Never lost a picture, love the slide shows, easy to use, etc. But each to his own - that's why there are several options.

My brother has recently started using Picasa and the photo editing functions are nice but I hate the way it organizes photos. Yeow! Let me do that myself! I can make folders and move photos around and can't imagine being OK with a program doing that for me. Maybe it provides more user controls than he knows about, but it organized all of his photos by date instead of subject. I'm guessing you would have to rename all of your photos with a subject (Like adding 'family - ' to the name of all photos of family members or events.) in order to get it to sort that way. Is there an easier way?

I agree on the arranging, Kate. My whole computer is organized like a big file cabinet, including all my images. I collect thousands of images for graphic projects, and I have them in folders, subfolders, sub-subfolders, etc. And there's no way a program can do that for me. But for others who just want easy access to their own pictures, it might work well. For instance, if I want to find a photo of a dachshund for something, I go to Storage/Images/Animals/Dogs/Hounds/Dachshunds. A chihuahua would be in Storage/Images/Animals/Dogs/ToyDogs/Chihuahuas.

All of my pictures are set up in folders that way, just like I used to file papers for a company I worked for. I have to have that type of arrangement, or I could never find a photo of a cottonmouth, for instance (Storage/Images/Animals/Reptiles/Snakes) or a passionflower (Storage/Images/Flowers/Vines).

I don't think Picasa will let me do that, so for me, I wouldn't use it to arrange my pictures. And I use PaintShop Pro for editing, and I've never had any problems with Photobucket for picture sharing. So I'll probably stay just like I am.

But Cindee may have a compatibility issue with Photobucket, so Picasa could be a good answer for her.

Oh, and Kate...right there with you on AOL. I'd think seriously about giving up my computer before I'd use them, and that's no exaggeration. Having belonged to quite a few very large online groups, I know firsthand just how miserable their service can be. Of all the problems members had, AOL caused more than 90%. I say run away, RUN AWAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!

Just my opinion, of course. Doesn't really mean much in the grand scheme of things.

Marcia

Actually both Dennis and I have had this AOL account since we got together 10 years ago. I really do not have problems with it. It has great spam blockers too and I find it very user friendly...but just like ever person, each one's computers and computer skills are different. If ya find something that works..stick with it!

Cindee, you are right that if it works (it ain't broke) stick with it (don't fix it). My biggest problem with AOL is that it is not compatible with so very many things, including certain types of computer stationery and some websites that can't be viewed with it. It COULD be that AOL is why Photobucket no longer works for you, as they often change stuff that have an effect on viewing & using websites. BUT, if you are happy with everything else with them, then even if that is the case, you would be better off going to Picasa or some other photo system than changing your AOL account.

Just because I would run like the wind from them doesn't mean everyone has to, by any means. Hope the Picasa continues to work for ya!

Marcia