Jane this is my method. I place my memory card/stick in the reader and the computer recognises it by popping up a window. You will be offered a folder which you can and should change the name of. Replace the folder name with either a date or name you will recognise the photos from and follow through to save to that folder. I also click to have the computer delete the photos off the memory stick after the download is complete.

Once the download is done you will get choices using the Windows photo viewer and can watch the photos in the slideshow. This is the time I delete rubbish or duplicates.

I get the impression you do not take many photos at events. You might consider changing that thinking with a digital camera, no film or developing costs so you can take as many as the memory stick will hold. As I have 2 younger grand kids I can take 200 photos in day, many are useless 'cos the rotten kids move but that is the whole idea. Out of all those shots I may get a few really nice ones. You cannot see the photos you do not take.

Then after a few months you have the monumental task of trying to reduce 9,000 photos down th less than 3,000 hee hee, all god fun

Thank you owbist and Happy New Year!
I don't take any photos at all (can't figure out digital cameras), but my husband does. He loves the digital cameras and is forever taking pictures. I grow orchids and also have 2 grandchildren. I ask him to take photos of my plants in flower and of course he takes tons of the kids. But I have to wait for him to download the shots so I can see them or send them. So I'm trying to figure it out myself - the downloading part. There were so many pics I didn't want, I wasn't sure the way to do it without deleting the pics from his memory stick. So I just downloaded the whole thing and had trouble finding them.
I didn't see the option of making a folder. I will pay more attention next time I try. I just wanted about 4 pics on the stick, but he must have had over 200. Wound up with all of them.
Thanks again, it'll be my project for 2007.

Jane

Happy New Year to you too Jane, and all other members here.

You can download the camera in 2 ways. Using a USB cable that came with the camera you just hook the 2 together via the USB port. The connection on the camera will be covered by a protective flap. The other method that I think most people use is to use a card reader. Many printers and even computers now come with card readers built in. If not you can buy one for about $20. Then you simply remove the card from the camera and slide it into the reader which should automatically bring up a menu for you to follow along and download the pics.

Always replace the card in the camera at completion of the transfer. Nothing more frustrating than taking a load of photos only to realise the card is still in the reader and the camera has no photos on it.

If you leave the photos on the memory stick it reduces the number of photos that can be taken so I always transfer all of them and delete from the memory stick at the same time. The I use Windows Explorer (Start/All Program/Accessories/Windows Explorer) to do what ever I want. Probably you will have created a sub folder inside 'My pictures' so look on the left side and click the + plus sign beside 'My pictures' then click on your photo folder to highlight it. Now you will see all the photos listed on the right side.

Now click on 'View' at the very top of the screen and in the drop down menu select either Filmstrip or Thumbnails to actually see the photos on the right side. This makes it easier to move through viewing and deleting those you wish to remove. To view these full screen right click on the first photo then click 'Preview'. Once this photo is full screen click the 'Slideshow' icon on the bottom row, the fifth icon in on my computer.

I copy every picture to my PC no matter how bad it might seem at first. I took 700 pictures in the first month with my digital camera and thousands since. I have folders in My Pictures with the names and models of my cameras. I file the pictures from each camera in the appropriate folder. Then inside each of those folders I have folders with event names with the pictures in them. If I need prints, I email them to Wal-Mart and pick them up at the store. I also email pictures to my mother's Wal-Mar in California so she can pick them up in one hour.