free Microsoft software - Paint .NET

Interesting tool, this.
http://www.getpaint.net/

It started development as an undergraduate college senior design project mentored by Microsoft, and is currently being maintained by some of the alumni that originally worked on it.

Have you tried it? Will keep it in mind the next time someone here pops in asking for recommendations on free photo editors (I usually mention Gimp to them).

It doesn't have any good colour temperature adjustments, but supports layers, masking, it's a basic editing program that's worth more than you pay for it :)
I still would use Photoshop Elements, or PaintShop Pro X myself as a basic editor.

I've used it for quite a while before getting a bit more serious and dabbling in photoshop. Considering it's free, I'd say it's a good rival for a lot of commercial stuff.