There is a brush tool in the menu. Double click it and a dialog box opens to allow you to specify the size of the brush and the color. Select any size that completely covers the dot or star; choose black as the color. Simply place the crosshairs over the star and click to place a black circle over it. I have found that blacking out even the very tiny and faint markings can improve the programs ability to remove the texture. Also, it seems to work better on JPEGs than TIFFs.

Thanks. That sounds much easier than the crude way I did it.