I'm looking for something in between Windows Picture Editer (!!) and Photoshop, for occasional use; free to download, legal, legitimate, and won't give my laptop a virus. Any sugestions?

The best one is Photoscape, it's free and you can add effects, text, make collages etc. Download from www.photoscape.org
I use it all the time, because I'm rubbish at Photoshop and don't have the time and patience to learn it properly...I have Photoshop Elements but even that's too much for me sometimes!
I also keep all my pictures on my computer on Picassa, download free from Google..it has lots of useful features too like crop, rotate, auto contrast etc. and even bad pictures can be improved a lot with this.

Hi SnazzyEarrings. Try Gimp 2. It's a free download and has loads of features. If you have basic knowledge of photo editing it's not too difficult to use and you can link to help web pages if you get stuck :)

I tried Gimp...but it was too hard for me!!! I have to admit to being slightly computer illiterate!

Gimp 2.6 can be a bit complex in places but loads of people have put tutorials on You tube if that helps :) I use it for the effects and use Paint for doing my cross stitch patterns.

I'm going to take a look at photoscape.. will report back once i see how i get on, and will show you some results!