Hello:

I would like to take pictures with a camera connected to a PC via a
USB cable. However, before I take the shot, I would like to preview
the image on my COMPUTER PC) screen and be able to remotely adjust the
controls on the camera via an on-screen menu on the PC monitor to
manipulate the image (depth of focus, brightness, color balance etc).
Finally, when I click the shutter, the image should be saved directly
to the PC desktop and it should give me an option to rename the image
and insert a description if so desired.

Is there any software out there that will do this ( either
universally,,, i.e work with every digital camera or else,
specifically.. i.e work with designated cameras.

My objective is to take pictures of jewelry and diamonds and do
close-up photography.
Any tips in this regard would also be greatly appreciated. So far I
am having problems with depth of focus and taking close-up shots..

The camera that I am using is Canon EOS 10D digital.

Thanks

Ouch!

This sounds as though it's going to be painful.

I would be very, very doubtful if there is any kind of all purpose
software out there for this purpose, but I know that my Canon Digital
Rebel XT comes with software out of the box to take pictures using a
PC. Pictures are downloaded directly to the hard drive and you are
able to adjust all the important settings on the PC.

If by preview you mean see a live image from your camera I'm afraid
that is impossible due to the way sDLR's ccd/cmos imagers work.

Try for a camera along the lines of a screen cam/video camera

Follow this link, think it will solve your problem:

http://www.steves-digicams.com/digsoftware_cameractrl.html