just download your pics to Windows? And skip Corel?
From what I understand Corel Paint Shop 10 and above are mostly
photo programs. My Paint Shop 9 is mostly for art work, and only does some
photo stuff.

I put my pics elsewhere, and then move them to Corel if I need to alter them,
crop them, lighten/darken etc. Is your system using Corel as a default?

When you plug in your camera, can you then go to Explorer and see it there?
If so I think you are connected. you are just stuck on what software to read it.
Another option is to save our pics to CD right out of the camera, and not put them on your harddrive.

You know when I bought this desktop 2 yrs ago, my son said, 512 RAM was enough--since I don't do games etc. Sunday he was here and piped up...
"I'm going to get you more memory for Xmas and install it for you, Mom!"
I should have bought the the 1024 to begin with. Corel is a system HOG,
so make sure you have enough RAM to run it. My Paint Shop Pro 9 requires 512 to start with! I suspect your X is an even bigger HOG!

That nuisance upgrade window is a pain in the neck. I don't see it every time now...and I think it only shows when you are connected to the internet.

One nice thing that our laptop does, is it will make a screensaver of your pictures in My Pictures. We put all our vacation digital pics in that file and it randomly shuffles them and shows them in screensaver mode. You pick that function from your desktop. It is a really really nice feature--the slideshow.