Picasa is a free photo organization and editing tool from Google, and for a free program, it really has a lot to offer. Picasa is desktop software that runs on Windows, and it can be downloaded from http://picasa.google.com/.

After you install Picasa, it asks you if you’d like to scan your entire computer or if you’d like to scan just the desktop, my photos, and my documents folders. I’d really suggest restricting your search to just those folders, unless you’ve got more than one hard drive or you’ve been storing photos in odd locations.When Picasa scans your entire computer, you’ll get cached Internet files, graphics from computer programs, and other images that you probably don’t need in your photo album. You can remove files later, but it’s easier not to import them in the first place.

You can also import photos directly from a digital camera, which is a handy way to keep them organized from the start.

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