Andrea, I shoot RAW exclusively now for the reasons you stated except occasionally flip it over to sports because it goes auto to burst (I think), and does only .jpg. I love Photoshop, has a very steep learning curve, waited years until I got a $299 upgrade with Elements to CS2. I don't just use it for my photographs, and I agree with you about some of the software that comes with cameras, read about Nikon's, refused to get in the camera wars, was really torn between Canon and Nikon, at the time I thought Canons had better noise reduction at the expense of IQ, understood that going in. I started just doing graphics learning all I could with PSP (quit upgrading at 5 because I didn't like some things), then bought Photo Impact (fun for awhile but a waste of money), but when I saw the power of PS, I was sold. I don't use all the features, no, don't jump on the upgrade bandwagon (lightbox is really cool, can't afford it), but I love their USM and ACR white balance corrections and several others such as highlight/shadows tool (because of the limited dynamic range with all digital cameras, may be better with the more expensive, super-high resolution ones), when I want to make them pop more. And a lot of it is strictly a matter of taste. There are some incredibly talented with PS; I'm not one of them. The actual conversion process doesn't take more than 30 seconds, and when I can, I batch convert using scripts. I know everything you said is true, especially you can use Nikon pics right out of the cam, sharp as a tack, same with some good P&S cameras. Have to watch oversharpening, too. For web viewing, people probably can't tell the difference about sharpening. I can see it, very occasionally I don't bother with it, depending, but do like to do my own cropping and straightening, can't stand really crooked photos unless for creative effect. Other software does that just as well. I highly respect your opinion, and it sounds like you are some kind of pro. I don't presume to know everything. Blowing blows more dust in than I get out sometimes, always do that first regardless, a couple tries, then test, but I have used the wet method only once, got it better, but just let the dustbunnies I missed be for now and try to be careful changing my lenses. The only people I'd really trust to clean my sensor filter, not the sensor on Canon, but extremely delicate, is Canon. Nobody on the Canon dslr forum I've read yet on dpreview for almost 5 years now sends theirs anywhere for sensor filter cleaning; they all clean them themselves, most very confidently (not me!) many, many use a wet method usually Copperhill or a pen. I used extra pure alcohol and qtips I got at the medical supply center, just a drop w/eyedropper. I first try the dry method with Walgreen's brand q-tips very gently. The camera store person told me some use plastic knives from McDonald's! Not for me! I don't really trust my local camera store or Best Buy technicians. With the camera store, last time I was in was tempted to butt in and tell the customer something I happened to know, while the salesman didn't seem to, held my peace. Had some photos and a painting scanned I wanted to retouch, state-of-the art, awful, ended up using my camera and tripod. The camera store wasn't set up to cater to dslr users, maybe they're more with it now. I hate cloning out dustbunnies once a bad one gets in there, most don't show at the sizes and resolution I use, but do clone quite a bit for other reasons and like the healing tool. Once a piece of fiber got in there, it drove me nuts, that I got out by blowing, need a better blower, the Hurricane one. Sorry for taking up so much "airtime". Sooner or later most dslr owners are going to have to choose how to deal with it. Then if I screw up, I screw up, and will pay the consequences. You HAVE to clean your lenses, even on P&S cameras, which I do as little as possible. I know Nikon has fine cameras and lenses; that is why the choice was so hard, and sometimes I still look back, but now I'm invested heavily in a few lenses not as many as some have, don't need them, but very expensive and wouldn't get near what I paid for them if I sold them, even though they are all in mint condition.

AR can be an absolute monster to remove. A free application called REVO is regularly recommended here for uninstalling. I would use it in the Advanced Mode. It first creates a restore point, uses the target application's uninstaller, and then searches the drive and registry for leftovers. With AR don't be surprised if there are many. You will have an option as to whether or not to delete the findings. There is no backup so the choice will be yours and lasting. Personally I have never had a regret with anything I have removed which has been identified by REVO, nor do I recall any postings either. DA

Do as previously suggested in Manage Add-Ons. If you cannot locate an Adobe Product you may have to: In the left pane of the appearing window you will see "Show: Currently loaded add-ons" with an arrow head at the end. Click on the arrow head and select "Run Without Permission". The Adobe product, probably Reader or Flash Player or both, will appear and indicate if it is enabled or disabled. If disabled right click on the entry, and select enable from the appearing drop down menu. So easy even I can do it. DA This post was edited by damccoy on Mon, Jul 21, 14 at 18:44

I second Raven regarding using a tablet for e-reading. The tablet I use for reading is an ASUS Transformer and it is extremely light. I cannot find any documentation as to how much it weighs, but am convinced it weighs no more than a few ounces, not even close to 17 ounces. Another advantage to having reading aps on the tablet (including one for downloading books from the library), is that you also download other "entertainment aps" for your tablet. On mine, for entertainment purposes, I have three reading aps (including Kindle), Sudoku, several word games, crosswords which I download daily (Shortyz Crosswords is the ap which downloads crosswords from a number of daily newspapers), a solitaire game, etc. Yes, my entertainments are very old fashioned. In addition, have The Weather Chanel ap, Fitbit ap, a daily Bible reading ap - really there seem to be no limitations as to the aps that can be downloaded to Android tablets. My hands have never gotten tired with holding it, and I too have arthritis in my hands. That tablet has truly changed my life for the better. Personally, I will never have an e-reader that is only for the function of reading. Don't limit yourself. I will stop the ramble now.