How to get photos out of phone ... 101 here...

Question

Found a massive amount of information on this, but nothing that addresses the simple, basic question ... how do you get the photos out of your iPhone (3Gs), into a Mac?
I've done it before, but it's been a while... iTunes in the "photos" tab with the iPhone plugged in offers several grayed out options, but you need to check a box before any can be selected.
Checking that box causes a message to appear saying it'll delete all photos on your phone.
How am I supposed to get the photos out of my phone if iTunes will 1st delete them?
Latest iPhone, latest software update...

Answer 1

applenom wrote:
Various thumbdrives are recognized in both USB 2.0 ports.
I am communicating now via a Verizon Wireless device (with up-to-date software) which is being recognized in one of the USB 2.0 ports.
A new model Samsung camera purchase the same day as the IPhone is recognized in either of the USB 2.0 port.
So this thing that is wrong with my computer only ever reveals itself when the IPhone is plugged into it. Odd, but I suppose stranger things have happened. I will admit that this all brings back bad memories of doing phone support for an ISP which trained me to blame the hardware or the OS for any problem which took more than six minutes to resolve.
You may not remember, but each time you connected one of those devices for the first time Windows had to install drivers for it. You would have seen messages in the system tray "Windows has detected new hardware..." "Windows is installing drivers for your new hardware...", etc. For some of them you may have even had to install from a CD because Windows did not have default drivers for them. Every time you connect a new thumbdrive Windows will install drivers for it, even if it identical to another thumbdrive that has already been installed.
Now if you please, Lawrence, it is the remainder of your post which seems contradictory.
COMPLETELY uninstall iTunes as described here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1925?viewlocale=en_US. Do not skip any steps. Then reboot your computer. Download and install the latest version of iTunes from http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/. You must be logged on as an account with administrator privileges to install. Before installing it disable your firewall and antivirus.
Reboot after installing. Take a picture with the iPhone camera, then connect it to your computer. Open My Computer and look for the iPhone as a camera.
I called Apple support who told me to download and install Itunes, which I did. No help. In fact I can't see anything photo-related in the Itunes menu.
That's because it isn't an iTunes function. It is a camera to Windows, not to iTunes.
If as you say (and I believe you) this is not: "an ITunes function. It is a camera to Windows, not to iTunes" then why am I directed to undertake this ornate, skip-no-steps un-installation and re-installation of ITunes in order to get my PC to recognize the IPhone as a camera?
To an expert the answer may be obvious but it eludes me. Please forgive my ignorance which may arise from lack of familiarity with the Apple technology.
Once again, any assistance will be gratefully appreciated.
See my comment about drivers above. When you first connect the iPhone to your computer Windows must install drivers for it, just like for every other camera, thumbdrive, cellular modem, mouse, keyboard or anything else plugged in to any port on your computer. Windows looks for a driver in c:\windows\system32\drivers and if it finds a matching driver it installs it. If it doesn't or if the driver it finds is the wrong one (which can happen pretty easily) the device won't work. You may or may not get a fleeting message in the system tray saying "a problem occurred installing the device".
For the iPhone Windows needs to install 2 drivers, one for iTunes and one for the camera. Neither of these drivers are "known" to Windows, because the iPhone was released years after Windows XP. Part of the iTunes installation puts the right drivers in c:\windows\system32\drivers so Windows can find them the first time you connect the phone.
It seems likely that the camera driver was not installed properly, or Windows chose an incompatible camera driver. By completely uninstalling iTunes you remove any out-of-date drivers that might have been left by a previous installation. Installing the latest version of iTunes also installs the latest version of the phone and camera drivers. Then, when you connect the phone after reinstallation the proper drivers may be selected by Windows.
There are still things that can go wrong. For example, if you have a Logitech webcam or a Lexmark scanner that do not have the latest drivers Windows will "think" those are the right drivers for the iPhone camera and the iPhone still won't work, and connecting it may cause Windows to crash. But removing and reinstalling iTunes is a good second step (after updating the webcam or scanner drivers if you have either of these devices).