In a rush to get PhotoShop 5.0 out the door last year, it seems Adobe shipped it with a surprise ù lots of bugs. Remember PhotoShop is a relatively expensive product at close to $1,400 a copy, so to release a version with annoying bugs probably didn't impress too many of its users and hasn't helped the company's image.

Adobe has since released a patch aimed at fixing many of the problems and it will "upgrade" PhotoShop to 5.0.2 by making changes such as improved anti-aliasing of small fonts and correct formatting of Illustrator 8.0 files. Windows NT users can now print and access colour settings without administrator privileges, and a new colour management configuration wizard has been added.

The Adobe Web site (www.adobe.com) and "readme" text accompanying the patch suggest that it will only work on the US English version, but Adobe Australia says it works equally well on the local product. One warning: don't get too twitchy with the reset button if you think the installation has frozen. In our tests, there was a long period of apparent inactivity before the upgrade was completed.

You can see if your copy has been upgraded by selecting Help on the PhotoShop menu bar and then About. The version number should read 5.0.2 in the bottom right corner. This is also visible on the splash screen when you start PhotoShop.

The 5.0.2 patch is free and the PC version is available on this month's cover CD in the new "Patches & Packs" section. You can also download a copy at the Adobe Website www.adobe.com/supportservice/custsupport/LIBRARY/52fe.htm.