I tried Microsmurf 'Paint', tried Gimp, tried a couple other freebies.
If you want to start editing jpegs only, they might work for you.
Get your feet wet, grind your teeth, pull some hair out...you know...
Not enough leeway for what I wanted to be able to do.
For nef/raw edits, you'll most likely want something a bit beefier.
After many hours of forum(s) searching, I opted for Adobe Elements 6; upgraded to E7, then tried E8.
(Went back to E7)
It's a mid-level editing pgm.
There are a couple versions; I got the 'photo-only' box.
No need for video editing the 'extra special' Elements offer!
Doesn't have alllllll the bells and whistles the higher end ($$$) programs have.
It does the job
I need it to do.
New in-store ran about $85-90; I got E8 for $50 off craigslist.
Learning curve was pretty steep for me; once I got it figured out enough, works just fine.
My gallery/Flickr pics are all Elements edited.
Yibel gives a good example of workflow set-up.
I keep my originals in one folder on a back-up drive; copy the ones I want to work on onto my hard drive, run the edits and then place the edits in ANOTHER sub-folder on the back up drive...
Try and think it through before you go knocking out a bunch of folders.
I sometimes can't remember "which folder where" when I go off looking for 'that shot I took...'