Here's a few websites you can download and use free programs from..
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http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/
http://www.opensourcewindows.org/
http://www.freepims.com/index.html
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:- online banner maker...
http://templatix.org/banner-maker/
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paint.net a great free image editor. i use this program a lot, even though ive got most of Serif's software..

:- available from...
http://www.getpaint.net/
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Unfreeze, a good free gif maker i also use a lot. just drag an drop the images, set the frame speed, and thats it, make your own gifs.
:- available from...
http://www.whitsoftdev.com/unfreez/

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Ive got more freebies to add, i'l do them later on..

Wow thanks for those sites man

no probs mate, if anyone wants to use getpaint.net, then install the free add-ons from bolt aswell, there really good to use..
:- available from...
http://www.boltbait.com/pdn/
these are free aswell and are very good for different pic editing.

This is a free image/photo editing program, Virtual Lightbox.
:- available from www.planetimagine.com
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Its quite a fast and effective program with some good effects and is very easy to use.

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Fotosketcher....
another free program some people might find useful.
About....
FotoSketcher is a 100% free program which can help you convert your digital photos into art, automatically. If you want to turn a portrait, the photograph of your house or a beautiful landscape into a painting, a sketch or a drawing then look no further, FotoSketcher will do the job in just a few seconds.
:- available from....
http://www.fotosketcher.com/
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more to follow later...

This free graphix software might come in handy for some of the members here, its quite easy to use and can merge 2 different pictures together and add a copyright watermark to your created graphix.
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http://www.graphicutils.com/merge/

thumbnail screenshot...
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This might come in handy for anyone interested in making their own animated gifs,
its beneton movie gif.
available from.....
http://www.benetonsoftware.com/Beneton_Movie_GIF.php
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about :-
Beneton Movie GIF is a free animated GIF editor. It is very easy to use and has all the features you need.
Features•Supports 48 file formats such as BMP, GIF, JPG, PNG, and AVI
•Multiple frames selecting
•Drag and drop frames for a quick editing
•20 different effects, divided in 2 big categories: normal and animated
•Supports individual frame properties: delay and transparent for each frame
•Save and load a batch of frames (frame1.bmp, frame2.bmp, etc.)
•A complete built-in image editor with many tools (pencil, shapes, airbrush, alpha brush, fill, selection, text)
•A simple preview window that previews individual frames or the animation with options such as zoom, loop, etc.
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