Dont laugh at me

[Whippeticious]

Please dont laugh, I just dont know this stuff, not very good with computers. I have a Canon 400D now and when I bought it I downloaded all the CDs it came with EOS Utility, Zoom Browser, DPP and Picture Style editor. If I was to buy a newer model camera no doubt it will come with all new CDs that I have to download. Do they just update the current ones or completely create whole new programs so I will have two of everything?

[Prisca Sapientia]

Don't load all that software, it's unnecessary. Invest in Lightroom2. Your whole life will change.

[Saint728]

I'm sure they are the same program, just updated versions. You will probably just have to download the latest updates for each program. Although installing the new ones will probably take less time to do.

Take Care,
Cheers, Patrick

[DDCSD]

Once the Canon software is on your PC you can just update it through Canon's website. You won't need to load up the new CD's.

[The Moose]

I know all of you are saying that you can just update it through the website but could the CD act as the update anyway? Without having to uninstall and then install again I mean.

[Whippeticious]

I know all of you are saying that you can just update it through the website but could the CD act as the update anyway? Without having to uninstall and then install again I mean.


Thankyou for reading my mind Moose. I am a real dummy with all things computer related, I dont know if it would just update or would I have two separate programs downloaded, one old, one new. How would the numbering system work for my photos if I add a new camera?

[antisoma]

Most likely the programs on the disc will be very recent versions. My advice, assuming you are on a pc (and not a mac), use "Add/remove programs" to remove the old versions (you can find it under "Start menu" then "Control Panel" then "Add or Remove Programs"). Remove all of your Canon software. Install the new programs from the disc (but only the ones you use! To do this select "custom install" [or similar] and only select the programs you have used in the past). Then update these new programs, usually there is an option under "Help".

[Whippeticious]

Most likely the programs on the disc will be very recent versions. My advice, assuming you are on a pc (and not a mac), use "Add/remove programs" to remove the old versions (you can find it under "Start menu" then "Control Panel" then "Add or Remove Programs"). Remove all of your Canon software. Install the new programs from the disc (but only the ones you use! To do this select "custom install" [or similar] and only select the programs you have used in the past). Then update these new programs, usually there is an option under "Help".

But all my photos are stored on there, if I remove the old versions would I loose all those photos. See I am so dumb I dont even know how to burn them for safe keeping.

[fishinfool]

You should invest in an external hard drive where you can back-up all of your pics and other important data. Here's a link to some on Newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=414&name=External-Hard-Drives

I've used Seagate and Western Digital and both are great. They are also very easy to use. I hope this helps.


But all my photos are stored on there, if I remove the old versions would I loose all those photos. See I am so dumb I dont even know how to burn them for safe keeping.

[Dave R.]

But all my photos are stored on there, if I remove the old versions would I loose all those photos. See I am so dumb I dont even know how to burn them for safe keeping.

Your photo's are not stored on the software that came with the camera. If you saved them to a folder, I would guess most likely in "My Pictures" on your C drive. Also, IMHO you shouldn't concern yourself with burning them to a CD as they are said to deteriorate over time. The external hard drive or another internal hard drive are options to consider. The thumb drives anymore have the capacity to store several thousand photo's, so that may be an option as well. I sense you are as concerned about losing photo's as you are dealing with software. Find the search feature on this web site and look for "saving photo's: or "how to save" or any other search criteria that sounds logical. As intimidating as these computers can be, they really are fairly forgiving. You also have a great resource here to help guide you should you have problems. Good luck.

[RiaGurl]

+1 on external storage, they are so cheap now. moreso than a year ago. you can get a 500gb drive for around $100, or if you have less to spend, still yet at least 160gb drive.

[TeamSpeed]

Most likely the programs on the disc will be very recent versions. My advice, assuming you are on a pc (and not a mac), use "Add/remove programs" to remove the old versions (you can find it under "Start menu" then "Control Panel" then "Add or Remove Programs"). Remove all of your Canon software. Install the new programs from the disc (but only the ones you use! To do this select "custom install" [or similar] and only select the programs you have used in the past). Then update these new programs, usually there is an option under "Help".

I completely disagree, once the software is installed, either updates from Canon's site or the newer CDs just update the existing software. Only uninstall if you are having issues or find that somehow you have multiple versions, which should not happen. The only time the above advice might be good would be when you get the 7D or newer, since Zoombrowser/Raw Converter are no longer used and have all been folded into DPP, you may not want those on your computer.

And related to storage, spend $135 from Buy.com and add a 1TB network enabled storage unit to your network. These are great, no plugging/unplugging USB drives, these just become harddrives on your network for any of your computers.

http://www.buy.com/prod/iomega-1tb-home-media-network-hard-drive/q/loc/101/210573494.html

I have a 2 drive RAID DLink NAS for our family to store homework, pictures, tax info, etc. Periodically I will copy everything on it to a USB drive and take that to work and lock it up for off-site storage.

[Jon]

Like TeamSpeed says, just get the on-line updates instead of loading the CD versions - they'll do exactly the same thing only maybe not as smoothly. Besides, if you download and install the latest version as an update, you can have the computer all ready to go when your camera arrives.