Arrrgh.
First off, I know someone's going to say that the solution to all my problems is to buy a better camera. I'm in the middle of buying a house; cameras are waaaaaaaaaaaaay down that list! Besides, the FinePix has a macro setting that I just found, lets you adjust white balance (Ditto), and though it only takes 2 megapixel shots and has only 3x optical zoom, it still does me fine for now.
The problem is that my desktop doesn't even see the camera. I know it isn't the camera and cable, as the appropriate wizard obligingly pops right up when I connect the camera to my laptop. Reinstalling the driver on the desktop consistently freezes the computer. Grump. So I can either 1) Dig out the Lagtop, boot it up, attach the camera, get the pictures, put them on a jump drive and transfer them, or 2) Unhook the camera from the tripod, pull out the XD card, plug in the memory reader, put the card back, re-do the date and time ...
What I want to do is plug the camera in to the computer! Any ideas what's gone wrong? I'm running Windows XP.
Edited to add that it's a Fine PIx 2650....state of the art lo MANY MANY years ago, when 2 megapixels was far more than any nonprofessional needed