Family photo advise....

Okay, photoshop/photog peeps, I need advice. Back in December, I'd used a hand scanner to scan a bunch of historical family photos that my aunt and my dad found in their mother's house when hunting for the deed and other important info. At that time, I'd promised to get the photos into a format so that any "writing on the back" would be in a file with the picture, and I'd touch up the pics as much as possible....

I have basic editing software on this netbook (Nero PhotoSnap essentials) that I can do most contrast etc basic stuff. I know I could do a lot fancier things (and possibly find a way to fix the occassional stutters in the images from the handscanner -- man was that a long day), but I guess what I need to know, is there a program where the info from the back's of the images can be tied in? I took scans of them (but they aren't always the most legible writing). I know I could do cut and paste into powerpoint, but then everyone would have to have powerpoint to view them...I could make tiff's out of powerpoint, but then the images will degrade more....

Any advice?

Thanks in advance...And if you know someone who has ever tried to do something similar, feel free to forward my info for them to be able to input.