Attached Link: http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/pluginsfilterseffects/l/bleliminateit1.htm

I noticed in your picture that there is a box at the top that says "Show Transform Controls" and it's not checked. Could it be that simple?

I only have CS4 and it's not extended BUT I know visibility of menus and panels frustrated the hell out of me.

Edit > Menus > Panel Menus

Open up the 3D dropdown and check the visiblily of the items you aren't seeing. 

Also, which Workspace are you using? One of the presets or did you create your own? You might have picked a Workspace which has certain menus/panels invisible.

This is probably a duh? answer but do you have Photoshop Extended? The standard Photoshop doesn't have 3D.

Click on the Move Tool you can check the Show Transform Controls box.

So you have both Preview and Metadata tabs on the top right? Drag Metadata tab down to lower right. You can also click the down arrow and Reset Workspace.

I'm pretty sure this is how it is done in CS2. I went from CS to CS4. It's hard to think back!

Edit > Preset Manager then you choose (Brushes, Swatches, Gradients, etc.) from the Preset Type dropdown menu and Load.

When CS6 does come out you can't upgrade from CS4. You would need CS5.

The brushes are amazing in Corel Painter. You can use oils, acrylics, watercolors, charcoals, crayons etc. It also has a great color mixer. You can also choose the canvas surface to paint on.

Mine defaults to New Selection also IF there has been no selection made already.

I zoom in a lot and make more points where needed with the Polygonal Lasso Tool. That in combination with the space bar to pan around the image. Backspace removes the last points made if I mess up. I still have the 4 option icons at the top of page. I flip back and forth with Add to Selection and Subtract from Selection.

Whichever way it works best for you is the right way to do it.

I doubt there is a method. It's only 1 extra click. It has to default to something. Either "add to selection", "subtract from selection", or "intersect with selection" if there is already a selection made.

Is there a specific reason why you are making a closed path then converting to selection? If you use the Polygonal Lasso Tool there is no need to convert. It's what I use when removing backgrounds. Magic Lasso Tool requires too much adjusting.

That totally pisses me off. It is not worth it to get each and every new version. I for one went from CS to CS4. Even skipping 2 whole versions was barely worth it. There is no way I'll upgrade to CS5 in order to upgrade to CS6. Looks like I'm stuck where I am. Adobe's greed will end up biting them in the ass losing a lot of customers.

Batch has been around for a long time in Photoshop. I used to create Droplets in Image Ready when it was separate from Photoshop in version 5.  Once a Droplet is created you drag a folder of files onto the Droplet icon and it then opens Photoshop to process the whole folder. It came in very handy when I used to process 300+ avatars daily for a chat program.

As for adding bmps to Photoshop I think the images has to be sequenced first. You can import the whole sequence at once.  

I think I understand what you mean but it's not the canvas that resizes. It's the window which resizes with the image when zooming in/out.

Edit > Preferences > General > Zoom Resizes Windows

I could never work with a mouse again. It's so much more natural to use a stylus/pen. I still have my Wacom Graphire 4 which is a 4 x 5. I don't want it larger. I even take it from my desktop to use on my laptop. It works great with Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, Painter and all the rest.