I'm getting used to using Picasa now, and have to say I'm liking it! What I'm starting to use more and more are the simple tuning options and effects you can apply to pictures, far simpler to use than in Photoshop (although horses for courses etc Photoshop is a professional piece of kit). Anyway I took this picture of some frogspawn in my Mum and Dad's pond, and using Picasa you can see how I've improved the pic so you can actually see it! Marvelous!

Can't see it?...
Frogspawn - not visible

...now you can!
Frogspawn - visible!