For years, my photo editor of choice had been Paint Shop Pro, a shareware program sold by independent software maker Jasc. In 2004, Ottawa-based Corel, of WordPerfect fame, bought Jasc and the program hasn't been the same since. Not only has it taken on the bloat that large software makers like to incorporate into their programs, but the application has become increasingly problematic. The most recent release of the program, for example, has been a real nightmare for me. Not only was it prone to spontaneously rebooting my computer-something I hadn't seen since I started working with windows XP-but it silenced my system by preventing my sound drivers from loading.


What's more, the software refused to uninstall properly. Before the process could be completed, it kept crashing. I finally had to sniff around the Internet to find a special program to uninstall the fiend. It is sad that a great program has hit the skids, but what's worse is the new version has some really good features-at least on paper-that I'd love to use, but not if it's going to be at the price of my system's stability.