Kat -

Assuming that your installation disks are not recoverable, and depending on what your image handling requirements are, you should be aware that Photoshop 7 is not quite the latest thing.

I've been quite satisfied with Photoshop Elements for about anything needed for work on photos. I've been using ver 2.0 since it was released, and haven't looked in detail at the current ver 4.0; but I wouldn't expect much in the way of major differences. Version 4.0 (Windows) is downloadable for $89.99 (US) from Adobe (512.6 MB), or you can order the CD (recommended) for $99.99 (US). [Current Mac version is still ver 3.0. I didn't check the price.] Web resellers may have slightly better prices, but usually Adobe products don't discount much.

If you don't need ability to work in CMYK color space, and don't need ability to make color separation plates, many of the pros are reporting that they commonly use Elements in preference to the big package for most photo handling, even when they have both.

You may see mention of "Photoshop Premier Elements" which adds video capabilities to the basic Elements but so far as I can see does nothing additional for still photos. I doubt you'd be interested in it, but check Adobe if you are.

You can download the current Photoshop CS2 for $599.00 or order the CD for the same price. The download is shown as 342.1 MB so it's not a quicky. (It's 440.4 MB for Mac.)

Recent reviews support the Adobe recommendation that you should get the full "Creative Suite 2" package, which includes Photoshop CS2, Illustrator CS2, InDesign CS2, Version Cue CS2, Adobe Bridge, and stock photos. The reviews indicate that a lot of the "new" stuff is actually in Adobe Bridge, but they're vague on how much "common stuff" has been moved from the other - previously pretty much self-sufficient - programs to Bridge. The whole thing now lists at $899 (US), and you can download it (1.89 GB) or get the CDs for the same price. (It would take me at least 3 weeks to download, if I could keep my connection up full time for that long, so I think the CDs would be quicker.)

Info for "just in case" you get the urge to update. I do note that there are still lots of user support sites for the numerous people still using Photoshop 3.0 and 4.0. I wasn't able to make my old 3.0 run on WinXP, but maybe I should check to see if someone's produced patches...

John