Picasa 2 is a free download from Google.

You can use it to scan photos or other items into your computer. You can 'fix' problems with scans or photos with it, like bad color, too dark/too light photos or documents, you can turn the documents is they are not lined up right, crop out images, actually, do quite alot.

I am helping my gfriend make photo books for her family for the holidays and, of course, alot of these photos are old or in shit shape. I have a Canon Pixma MP780 at home, which an all in one scanner, copier, and color inkjet printer. The software Canon gives you with the scanner blows. Its terrible.

Picassa 2 AUTOMATICALLY detected my device, and scans snapshots into my computer faster than any other app ever has. The photo fixing tools with it work easy, fast, correctly. It works with the flatbed and the auto document feeder, flawlessly and MUCH better than the bundled software.

This free application is an absolute marvel.

I have used Adobe photoalbum and Photoshop Elements 2 (they are on version 5 or 6 now). Picassa organizes photos better, and it fixes them better and much faster for 99% of casual users like me and what we would ever do with a photo editor. It also launches faster than Elements. Elements does alot more, though, if you are a semi-pro or enthusiast. But in that case, Id still have to suggest the FREE GIMP or GIMPSHOP.

I have even used it to scan documents onto my computer, darken the print, straighten out the scan. The print of the scans I make look better than the originals!

Picassa 2 comes as close to a Mac-like app on a PC as I have ever seen. Apple's offerings are currently the best to use for 99% of computer users. But if you cant get a Mac and have some photos or docs you want to scan, Picassa 2 is the finest piece of software Ive ever come across for this purpose.