Mr Red -

If you're using WinXP you don't need a program to give a pretty decent slide show. Just go to Start|Settings|Control Panel, Double-click Display, Click the Screen Saver Tab and select the "My Pictures" choice. At the Settings button, put the folder name in where you've got a bunch of pictures (I prefer jpg) and the screen saver will flip through whatever pictures are in the folder. The only real glitch is that the default is to randomize the order in which the pictures are shown. (a little extra stimulation for the eldster?).

With an older OS, if you want to show slides you will likely find it simpler just to get a freeware screen saver. You might also take a look at something like Photoshop Album Starter Edition 3.0 which is !!FREE!! and I believe makes a pretty good slide show from any pictures you've got handy.

If you have access to Power Point on another machine for making Power Point slide shows, you can download the !!FREE!! Power Point Reader from Microsoft's Office site to use to show slide shows on the laptop.

As to what kinds of pictures would interest a 70 y.o. voyeur viewer, I've got a couple of years to go before I can give you an authoritative opinion, but stick around for a while ....

John