Jack,
I too have removed blooms in MaxIm but using Ron Wodaski's Bloom Removal plug-in which works much better in my opinion. The issue is that when the data is combined and stretched, the stars are usually a little flat on top or there is a slight spike left. Usually I just bring the image into PS and use the Smudge tool to correct this. Maybe I'm missing an important feature but I don't see how I can see what the intended use of each tool/process is. This probably goes back to my very first post in looking for a glossary of terms. Something along the lines of:
Image Intergration: Tool used to combine multiple images into one using Average, Median or other method
Screen Transfer Function: A non destructive means of displaying the image data, use auto for a good start
Dynamic Background Extraction: Process used to remove gradients from the image
and so on........
This would just make it a bit easier to find the proper tools/processes to apply to processing the image. At least for those of use that are familiar with image processing using other software. Listing them as a basic or advanced tool/process would be benifical as well. Just some thoughts.
Thanks,