Even novices can make strikingly fun multimedia slide shows with Simple Star's PhotoShow Deluxe 2.5. The program also offers basic organization and editing tools, and navigating the program's three sections—Manage, Make, and Share—is a breeze.

When you start PhotoShow, it scans your computer (as well as connected memory cards and digital cameras) to import your photos, though it doesn't maintain nested folders. In the Manage section, you can caption photos and organize them by category and keyword for easy search and retrieval.

In Make, where you can order online printing and photo novelty gifts, you'll find simple slide show tools, including titles, frames, transitions, animated clip art, and music. In Share, you can e-mail links to your photos online (hosted free at www.photoshow.net), burn a CD or VCD, create a screensaver, save your photos to HTML, and create an EXE file that can be viewed by anyone.

The editing interface is basic, but it delivers most of what the amateur photographer needs. For home printing, PhotoShow lays out selected photos according to size as thumbnails on a proof sheet or on a number of Avery label sizes. Like everything else in PhotoShow, the print layout is very easy to use. Just don't expect your slide show to look like a Hollywood production.