Selecting the Right Graphics Editor - in order of top rated to least rated

1. Photoshop Elements - This is the consumer version of the extremely powerful (and expensive) Photoshop program. For $66 (on sale) to $80 (normal retail) it is a really good, solid powerful program.
    

2. GIMP for Windows - Considered the "free Photoshop", similar!
3. Serif PhotoPlus - you can download a free, fully-functional version of PhotoPlus 5.5, which has an export optimizer, and many features.
4. Ultimate Paint - shareware and freeware versions -  full-featured 32-bit Windows graphics program for image creation, viewing and manipulation.
5. VCW VicMan's Photo Editor - versatile image editor with an intuitive interface and a wide variety of features. Free version and Pro version for $29.95 US
6. ImageForge - freeware image editor. Painting, editing tools, import images from scanners,, digital cameras, special effects filters,create photo albums and slideshows.
7. Pixia - English version of a popular Japanese free painting and retouching software
8. PhotoFiltre  - very basic image retouching program. It allows you to do simple or advanced adjustments
   to an image and apply a vast range of filters on it. It is simple and intuitive to use, and has an easy
   learning curve.

Other Graphics and Image Tools

Color and Palette Choosers

• Pixie 3.1 - Free - color picker. For Windows

Image Mappers

• CoffeeCup Image Mapper++ 3.0 - Free trial, $20.00 to buy.  Maps images to allow visitors to click on a part of an image and be sent to a different links. For Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP