A Great Photo Editing Alternative

Windows users are often in a bind when it comes to photo editing software. Windows comes with a very simple built-in application called Paint. It lacks some of the most commonly-used photo editing features, including crop and red eye removal.

Meanwhile, third-party software solutions such as Adobe Photoshop cost between $75 and $500.

Earlier this year I discovered a free, open-source photo editing application that's rich with features. It's called Paint.net, and it can be found here:

http://www.getpaint.net/index2.html

I've been testing this piece of software and it works very well. It is a vast upgrade over Paint, and its feature set and ease-of-use are similar to Adobe Photoshop Elements. The download is only 1.3 MB and the installation is quick and seamless. I have had little difficulty learning how to use Paint.net, and have found that it has more than enough features to do common photo editing.

Please note that Paint.net is not available for Mac or Linux, and it is only compatible with Windows XP and Vista. (Older versions such as Win98 and WinME are not supported.)