Thanks to digital cameras, we're taking more photos than ever. The sheer number of photos can easily create an organizational mess.

Fortunately, there are plenty of tools to keep things straight so that you can spend less time on the computer and more time snapping shots. You'll find links to all the programs mentioned here at www.komando.com/news.

Eliminating duplicate photos: It's easy to mistakenly download photos multiple times. These duplicates take up valuable hard drive space, and they make finding the photos you want more difficult.

You don't need to sort your photos one by one. Let software to do the work — just be careful about deletions.

You can use a basic program like DoubleKiller (free). It will locate files with the same name and photo size. But, this isn't foolproof. I recommend PhotoSort ($25), Duplicate Image Finder ($30) or Check Identical Files ($33). These programs actually look inside the photos. They consider colors, patterns and shapes. They're much more accurate at locating duplicates.

Recovering deleted photos: Deleted photos are a more serious problem than duplicates. There are few second chances to capture memories.

I often receive pleas for help from listeners of my national radio show who have accidentally deleted photos. Fortunately, free software often works.

Recuva (free) works with both hard drives and memory cards. PC Inspector File Recovery works with hard drives. Or, use PC Inspector Smart Recovery for memory cards. Both are free.

When you accidentally delete photos, stop using the computer or memory card immediately. Download the recovery program on a different computer and run it from a thumb drive.

Identifying subjects: Cameras give generic names to photos. This makes it difficult to locate photos of a specific person. Facial recognition can help. It identifies similar faces in photos. You can tag them with names, which make it easy to locate photos. They're ideal for scrapbookers.

You need a frontal shot to make facial recognition work. Nothing should obscure the face.

Picasa Web Albums (free) will help you use facial recognition and add names. Of course, you must upload your photos to the Internet to use this service.

Another option is PicsMatch, one of my advertisers. PicsMatch ($50) runs directly from your computer. It can even upload tagged photos to Flickr or Facebook.

Converting photo formats: Photo buffs often shoot in RAW format because the resulting images are not compressed, yielding better quality photos and giving you more options for editing. Such photos have more detail and tonal range.

However, RAW files can be difficult. Each manufacturer has its own file format, and you must convert the RAW photo to a different format after editing.

Many cameras capable of capturing RAW images include software for editing RAW files. If not, try RawTherapee (free). It will help you edit and convert RAW photos.

IrfanView is also helpful. It converts photos among many different formats. Plug-ins add compatibility for some manufacturers' RAW files.

Organizing photos: The biggest hassle is keeping photos organized. You probably have folders filled with photos. They may be arranged by date or subject. You might want to find files by both.

Picasa is handy for organizing photos. Once installed, it scans your computer for photos.

Photos are arranged by the folder in which they're located. You can also arrange photos into albums. Or, add tags to your photos for easy searching.

Picasa also includes basic photo-editing tools. And, you can use it to create slide shows to share or upload to the Web.

It also works with Picasa Web Albums; you'll get 1 gigabyte of free online storage.

Reach Kim Komando at gnstech@gns.gannett.com.