These are my favourite graphics and icon utilities.

W9x / Me / NT / 2k / XP — Commerical £89.99

PLEASE NOTE: Version 8 is now available.

Jasc | Digital Workshop | Buy at Amazon.co.uk

This is my graphics program of choice. It does everything I want from a graphics package: edit photos, create web graphics, scan directly into PSP, batch conversion, browse folders and view thumbnails of images, draw, paint, and animate.

Easy to use for beginners, yet powerful enough for the most demanding advanced user. Not quite as sophisticated as Adobe Photoshop, but quickly catching up.

I bought PSP 7 on special offer at Amazon.co.uk for a bargain £46 UK Pounds.

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W9x / Me / NT / 2k / XP — Commerical US$59.95

Developer's Site | Download Demo

A true Swiss Army knife of the very best icon utility software.

Find the icons you’re looking for with Microangelo Explorer. Organize and view your favorites inside icon libraries and program files using Librarian. Create and edit icons in ICO files, icon libraries, and in all types of program files with the seamless integratation of Microangelo Librarian and Studio.

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W9x / Me / NT / 2k / XP — FREE

Developer's Site | Download

Since buying PSP I don't use this terribly much for viewing image thumbnails, which was the original reason I downloaded it.

However, it adds a right-click image view in Windows Explorer which I find invaluable (see example on right).

Like all CoffeeCup software it is packed with features.

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W9x / Me / NT / 2k / XP — FREE

Developer's Site

IrfanView is a fast, simple freeware image viewer and editor that supports all major graphic formats, including BMP, DIB, JPEG, GIF, animated GIF, PNG, PCX, multipage TIFF, TGA, and more. In addition, it features drag-and-drop support, directory viewing, TWAIN support, slide shows, batch conversion, and modifications such as color depth, crop, blur, and sharpen. The previous version featured new improvements and enhancements.

The latest version features a wealth of enhancements including improved Windows XP compatibility, new "Properties->Extensions" dialog, an option to set a different icon for each file format, HTML export options, advanced slide show, and numerous others.

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