If you're looking for a free replacement for the Microsoft Photo Editor, I'd recommend Paint.Net. Think of it as a cut-rate version of Adobe Photoshop, it does pretty much everything you might need.

Another package that's free is PhotoScape. Again, think of it as a cut-rate version of Photoshop, not as powerful but should have enough capabilities for whatever basic photo manipulation you want to do.

You can find both easily enough via Google.

-Raymond (Yes, I'm still around, lurking quietly in the shadows)