owbist, thanks for your reply and help. on the plugins tab I only have the radio button turned on for "Load Preview image only.(fastest option) There are two more options that I do not have the radio button turned on. I will uninstall and reinstall and see if that helps. Should I turn on the other two radio buttons under the default tab? iris gal I just cleaned the monitor. I have good eye sight with my computer glasses. Try them they are great for old eyes. I don't think it is the camera, the photos look good on the camera when I check them. Here I go to uninstall and reinstall! yuk~ Happy Paths to you in 2007 pinecone

I use Irfanview more than anything, especially to size wallpaper. I found the instructions lacking for some things like cropping. I still have Roxio and will continue with it for "fixing" photos until it is no longer supported. Then I will go with Irfanview for everything. I don't do a lot of pictures anymore, there is no one who shows an interest in them besides me. I don't even take a camera with me on trips anymore.

Movie Maker has a 60 transitions, 28 video effects. You can add titles before, during, or after a video clip or still picture. It is VERY easy to add music and narration. You can do both if you want. It is super easy to edit the lenght of the song to your pictures by dragging the line on the "timeline". My best advice is to add the pictures, then titles. Then add the transitions/effects. Add your music and/or narration last. If you start moving things around - you can mess up your transitions, etc. Also - it is a good idea to decide how long you want each still image to be shown before you start. It is easier to have it like you want it from the beginning. Go to TOOLS->OPTIONS and set the length of time to show a picture, and the time for a transition. I set mine at 10 seconds per picture and 1.75 for a transition. You can always lenghten the time you want to show a certain picture by dragging it longer in the timeline. I don't know of any other programs that are this easy to change the lenght of images - usually it is only one time for all. Have fun - these are a blast to make. But give yourself some time to work on it :)

Eric did you see anywhere that it stated is has a resizing option? The biggest reason I want to use this one, I already have the freebie and I figure it would integrate well with 5.0. Plus it's not too expensive. I figure the better ones are for professionals, really, not for an amatures (ok, how do you spell this word?) like me. Thanks for the input, Mona