Irfanview allows you to manipulate and easily view images, and other media formats.  Here’s a list of what it can do:

• Cut and crop images
• Apply batch conversions
• Sharpen or blur images
• Create panoramas
• Change color modes

Irfanview has been slowly adding support for lots of different formats and now supports most image, video and sound formats including the popular MP3, AVI, audio CD, and WMA.

It has a simple interface which is easy to learn. New on the latest version at time of writing is a set of (basic) drawing tools, easily reached by hitting F12.

I rate this program very highly and it can be easily installed alongside other programs, be sure to opt out of the free Google toolbar during installation if that is something you don’t require.  www.irfanview.com

Requirements:  Windows 95/98/Me/2000/NT/XP/2003/Vista/Server 2008/7