MediaChance.com has some great free digital photo programs [1]. They are very specialized tools, but they work great.

IrFanview [2] is a great program for viewing images of almost any format. It reads most camera RAW files as well as proprietary and universal image formats.

Paint.NET [3] is a free program that is designed to compete with Photoshop and CorelDraw. It works well, but is not the most intuitive.

Gimp [4] is another free opensource program (free to use and change). It works well, but it is a little tough to install for a beginner. You must install the runtime program before you install the actual program. See linked page for details.

Let's not forget Picasa [5]. This wonderful program lets you sort, backup and view your digital photo collection easily.