PhotoShine's biggest problem is its interface, which is hard to navigate, doesn't resize properly, and just looks a old-fashioned. Improvements here would make the app much, much better. If you can get past this, though, PhotoShine is packed with loads of features, frames and scenarios that will allow you to personalize your photos for almost any occasion you can imagine.

To use PhotoShine, just hit the green folder icon and you can open your photos. Once they're in, you can re-orient, resize and move them, as well as applying some color effects, like gray, old and sketch. Some of PhotoShine's effects are better than others, though, so check them all out before saving.

Where PhotoShine really stands out, however, is in its effects, frames and other features. There are bunches of them for you to play with, organized into strange-sounding categories called things like Baby, Simulation and Magazine. The great thing about PhotoShine, is that simply clicking on the effect is enough to insert your image very accurately - it detects people and faces very well, and even if it doesn't, you can change them by double-clicking again.

PhotoShine's effects are certainly not to everyone's taste, but if you're looking for some fun for your photos, it's worth checking out.

Download PhotoShine Mini 4.0 in Softonic

Introduction

PhotoFiltre is a relatively small application and unlike Photoshop, will install and launch very quickly. The interface, loaded with all the features and options, can be confusing at first glance but you'll soon get used to it. The right side is composed of the shape and drawing tools and an optimizable color palette. The top bar has all the essential image editing and modification options. PhotoFiltre sadly doesn't let you customize the interface and choose your favorite tools.

Features

Among all the image modification tools, of particular usefulness is the quick contrast/hue and saturation buttons because you can check out the effects and immediately and easily correct the image if you're not satisfied with its quality. If you trust PhotoFiltre, you can also let it adjust these parameters automatically.

Like any self-respecting image editing application, PhotoFiltre includes the most widely used filters to transform your image, but if you need to make really significant changes, you'll find yourself limited. Furthermore, unlike Photoshop, PhotoFiltre doesn't include layers, making it more challenging to work on different elements of the image separately.

Like the excellent free image viewer Irfanview, PhotoFiltre covers the majority of image formats and can batch process and convert images rapidly. PhotoFiltre has five different zoom options yet they seem to be more or less similar. The magnifier is probably less precise than the drop down percentage pane, and the auto zoom adjusts the image’s size according to PhotoFiltre's window size.

The image explorer is located at the bottom of the screen, and if you set it according to your image file you'll be able to quickly preview all your pictures. However, if you work with multiple image files, it can quickly become confusing, as you’ll have to open up an explorer tree pane every time to look for your pictures.

PhotoFiltre contains all the essential tools and options to edit and optimize pictures.

Download PhotoFiltre 7.1.1 in Softonic

Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer is a free application that allows you to open (but not edit) PowerPoint files.

Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer is easy to use and allows you to view fully-featured presentations created in PowerPoint 97 and later versions.

This viewer also supports opening password-protected Microsoft PowerPoint presentations and allows you to print presentations opened in it.

Once you've installed it, all you need to do is browse to the file that you want to open from the file menu.
It only opens presentations in full screen mode which is a bit annoying but you can navigate slides by right clicking on the current slide. Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer supports the full range of PowerPoint file extensions including .ppt, . pptx, . pptm, . pot, . potx, . potm, . pps, . ppsx and . ppsm. When you've opened one file, it should automatically open others as the default viewer for PowerPoint files.

Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer is all you need to open PowerPoint files without having to go to the expense of installing PowerPoint itself.

Download Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer 2007 in Softonic

In fact, PIXresizer is the perfect app if you want to make very simple changes to your photos before posting, viewing or sending them online. For example, you can use the app to change the photo size (to presets or custom), alter the file format (BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, and TIFF) and optimize for emailing and posting.

PIXresizer isn't very flashy, and apart from these functions - and a few other options you can enable, such as saving EXIF data - there's not much more you can use it for. That said, it's free and does its job very well, so if you often need to change the dimensions of your photos, it's a very handy tool to have lying around.

PIXresizer allows you to work with single files or in batches of folders. The two options are under separate tabs, and you'll be able to see a preview if you use the multiple files option.

Quick, simple and does exactly what it says on the tin, PIXresizer is an excellent tool.

Download PIXresizer 2.0.5 in Softonic

Cartoon Maker is fairly basic but has a few tools to play around with your photos. While you won't ever be able to get into deep editing, you'll be able to apply different distortion and twist effects of which you can modulate the intensity. If you want to take the outline of a picture you can use the sketch tool. We suggest setting it at near maximum though if you want to capture the majority of the lines in the photo.

Despite the fact that you can only save to three image formats (jpg, bmp, wmf), Cartoon Maker is a good application if you're looking to quickly create distorted images of your friends.

Download Cartoon Maker 6.01 in Softonic

Photoshop is generally considered to be the standard for photo editing. While it's undoubtedly excellent and very powerful, it is also really expensive and is much more advanced than is necessary for most people.

Complete toolset

PhotoFiltre Studio offers many of the same functions as Photoshop, but it's a bit easier to use and a lot cheaper. This 30 day demo is fully functional, so you can see all it has to offer. The usual range of selection, cutting and drawing tools are in a panel on the right of the window, and in the tool bar there are options that will be familiar to any Photoshop user. These include layers and filters, as well as some other quick editing tools that are pretty cool.

Two nice tools in PhotoFiltre Studio are the horizon correct, which is useful for tweaking landscape photos, and the perspective correction, which is quite basic but can produce some interesting effects. PhotoFiltre Studio also has some easy-to-use brightness, color and hue alteration tools. You can learn pretty easily by just playing around with the various buttons, although there are comprehensive online instructions available in PhotoFiltre Studio's help menu as well.

Excellent Photoshop alternative

For the amateur photographer, PhotoFiltre Studio is an easy to pick up and effective photo editing application. It is nowhere near as intimidating as Photoshop, yet it can also produce some really great looking pictures.

PhotoFiltre Studio probably won't satisfy professional photographers or graphic designers, but if you're just looking for an easy-to-use photo editing tool, it's a great alternative to more expensive Photoshop.

Download PhotoFiltre Studio 10.4.1 in Softonic

PhotoFiltre Studiois a pleasant surprise however making basic retouching and editing of images easy and accessible. It allows you to perform simple or advanced editing of an image and apply a vast range of filters. Everything is managed through the toolbar with which you access the standard filters. It also has a "layer manager" which controls all the advanced brushes, nozzles, red eye remover plus other useful tools.

The filters are easy to use and for anyone not very familiar with using them, PhotoFiltre Studio provides an excellent introduction into what they can do for you. Many provide simple functions such as changing the brightness, contrast, dye, saturation and gamma levels etc. However, there are also some much more impressive filters such as those that create watercolour, pastel, indian ink or mosaic effects.

It also features tools for more adventurous users such as vector filters that allow you to manipulate images into rectangular, ellipse, triangle, rhombus and rounded rectangle designs.

If you're new to image manipulation or editing, or are just lost when it comes to using filters, PhotoFiltre Studio will make you feel much more at ease.

Download Photofiltre Portable 6.5.2 in Softonic

FotoSketcher helps you add some spice to your photos without much fuss. The program includes dozens of drawing styles to apply, which are easily customizable by using sliders to configure color, contrast, stroke intensity and other parameters.

All you need to do is open the image you want to convert into a sketch and select the drawing effect you want to apply. The preview window, though a bit too small, lets you check the result before clicking the "Draw!" button. FotoSketcher will then apply the effect and display the final image beside the original one, so that you can compare both. The program also lets you add a frame to your image.

FotoSketcher also includes basic editing tools to modify the source image, supports skins to customize the program’s interface, and can work in batches with several photos at the same time.

FotoSketcher is the perfect tool for those who want to apply a nice sketch effect to their pictures but don’t dare use use Photoshop.

Download FotoSketcher 2.30 in Softonic

Image Compressor reduces the size of JPEG file (which is already a compressed format) by analysing every pixel in the image. With our test the file-size reduction from a standard JPEG was between 20% and 45%.

After zooming in on the compressed image, we noticed that the quality was basically identical to its original.

I particularly liked the 3D web photo-album which creates a cool 3D scrolling effect for a selection of images (the rendering is better with no more than about 30 files).

It's a shame though that the application doesn't provide an option to share the 3D presentation and if you simply copy and move or send the files, it doesn't work.