The trouble with the Paint program in Windows is that it falls just a little short on basic functionality.

Most users only want a bit extra in order to get the most out of their images, and this is where a program such as Imageforge is useful.

Imageforge opens and saves in a large number of graphics formats and offers effects to blur, sharpen, posterise, halftone and engrave your images.

There are also the usual sliders - to adjust the hue and saturation, brightness and gamma - along with an auto-contrast tool.

It's hardly super-advanced stuff, but it's enough to make your digital camera pictures or scans look punchier.

Upgrade to ImageForge Pro for $28.95 and get more professional features, inlcuding 3D shapes, gif creation, putty tools and polygon shapes.