Hi John, I use photoshop 7, and I find it very good, photoshop elements can do some basic things, but it's not as advanced, to be honest, i'd try elements first for levels, curves etc, and see how you get on.
As for freeware, GIMP is free, but I've never used it myself, there's also a free program called 'noiseware' community edition which I find is very adequate to kill off noise in your shots
www.photo-freeware.net/noiseware.php
Also there is a program called 'hotpixels' from DigitalEnhance, this a free too.
www.mediachance.com/digicam
As for other programs, Photoshop CS, Iris, and MaxDSLR I have'nt used...
Keith...
  