ms paint isn't worth my time. psp7 and photoshop6 work wonders, although I just downloaded photoshop7, because I hear it has some new features.
psp has an easy to use interface, has the more essential color filters, although lacks some of the advanced filters of photoshop.
I use psp for the simpler stuff because the interface is more efficient, and I'm more familiar with it. simpler stuff= bitmaping, working with graal images, airbrushing my drawings, etc
I use photo shop for filters that I can't otherwise do with psp. for example, I have a messed up pagefile and psp can't add text without crashing. Also, photo shop has better lens flare effects than psp7, and it has some other realy cool filters, such as a cloud rendering filter.
Ms paint isn't worth your time, because its a prime example of microsoft quality; its a pile of garbage. It doesn't have capability to use layers, and doesn't have any filters or usefull color pallet functions. its the worst graphics program I've ever seen.
I would like to use the gimp, because it is better than any of the 'shop' programs, or so I've heard from everyone I've met that uses it. The only downside I see to the gimp, is that one would need linux to take full advantage of it, wich is bad for the average new00ber. I'm a big fan of linux myself, so once I fix some minor details in my linux comp, I'll be a happy camper
*deep inhale*