I have never used the software you are asking about--I have shot with Canon Digitial SLR bodies since the days of the D60. I used the Canon software provided back then for a day....I have not used any since then.....
Eric, I'm not sure I understand the question. When you open PSE, the window says "drop images here". You can also select "open" from the file menu or command-O. This only works with RAW images, as JPEGs already have a picture style applied and it can't be changed at that point. PSE isn't an image editor, it's only for editing picture styles. If the dust is on the sensor, look into using "dust delete data" on the camera.