Power users will be interested in a superb free offering from VSO Software (www.vso-software.fr). VSO Image Resizer is free but offers a few more tools than most other offerings that we’ve seen. Once installed, you right-click an image and click the VSO Image Resizer tool to launch the program. You do have to suffer a nag screen that prompts you to buy a version for commercial use, but we think the extra click is worth the versatility this program adds. Next to the Resolution fields, click the More link to open up a wealth of options. You can use the top drop-down menu to set a default resizing profile or enter custom dimensions in the resolution box. Notice that you can perform format conversions with VSO Image Resizer and apply quality filters to further reduce file size. You'll want the Keep Aspect Ratio Of Original box checked to ensure proper dimensions.

We won’t go through all of the options here, but Web masters who want to protect or retain credit for their own work as it gets redistributed throughout the Web should click the Effects tab to integrate a watermark. Also, you can use the drop-down arrow next to the Settings button to make all of the current settings the default for the next time you open the program.