I use Paint Shop Pro, Fireworks and Photoshop. It is hard to say which single application is best. I agree with the other posts that if you can afford it, and wish to master it, Photoshop is the application. But I used Paint Shop Pro for years and it can also be very powerful, super fast to load (vs Photoshop) and easy on system resources. And I've almost never had it crash. Fireworks is a harder to master but very good blend of the two. I've used it to create logos, web graphics, animations (gifs), and even print-ready artwork for large aviation posters (printed by cafepress). You just need to define your requirements and self effort. All deliver a lot for the money.
Speaking of GIMP, I just downloaded it and tried it. Honeslty, not bad if you know what you are doing. It has some nice ui theme. Needs sometime to get used to but if you're just looking to resize, create text, edit photo in the leanest and simplest way, I give it to the GIMP. Why? It's free
I haven't used very much but I'd probably say either photoshop or GIMP would be a good choice to start with. The only downside is that photoshop will cost you(unless pirated) but then again GIMP is free.
if budget is a problem and you're just trying to get your feet wet, you've really got to try this one out - photofiltre
if you want to do professional level work, just invest in either adobe's or corel's suites. That is the best investment you'll ever make. However, if you want to take designing as a hobby, then any of the above mentioned free software will do quite ok.
If you get Illustrator, or an open-source vector based software, here's a nice little tip for you as a beginner. I assume yo probably have microsoft word on your machine. Go to insert clip art, and get clips from the web. If you download these clips into your document, copy them, and paste them into your program, say Illustrator... these clips are really gems, all editable, and all vector graphics. You can easily make some really nice vector graphics by just deleting what you don't want from these pictures, and adding them together.
Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that. You may not use the "i want to try this first illegally and then buy it if I don't like it" excuse for illegal software downloads. Trials and demos are designed for the sole purpose of giving you a feel for the product beforehand, and frankly - 30 days is aplenty. I can apply what you're saying to a real world example: "I suck at driving - so I'm going to break into the local Lamborghini dealer and steal myself a Gallardo because I don't know whether it's good or not. The 30 minute test drive simply isn't enough for me to get a handle of the car. Perhaps I might buy one if I like it." etc.
Photoshop, hands-down to that. One of the major software for web graphics, combined with Dreamweaver.
Yes man. It all depends on you sometimes. Paintshop pro isnt bad at all. Also, there was a program named "Painter". Anyone know of it? Thanks dudes.
Guessing here, but you might be working at a low resolution on your images. Check your DPI setting. You should also check the font properties for things like Anti-alias.