saw no options for sepia or adding borders, anyone find these customizations?

Image Assistant is a wizard-based, extremely easy to use image format converter based on the FreeImage open source image library [per it's About box]. You start by populating the list of images via drag/drop or the Add Images & Add Folder buttons. Click Next & the window lets you choose output format & destination -- click the Add Operation button to bring up a window with choices: Resize, Rotate, Mirror, Text Watermark, Image Watermark, Effects, Brightness/Contrast, & Gamma... it doesn't look like you can re-order operations, so be careful to add them in the order you wish (if/when that matters). Click the Start button & images are converted [& optionally processed], giving you a window with buttons to Open folder, Upload to Picassa, & Upload to FTP. Clicking the Settings button lets you Generate HTML Index, specify what to do If Output File Exists, enter user name & password for Picassa & FTP, plus enter ftp address, port etc...

Installation isn't bad if you don't mind VB [Visual Basic] & lots of registry entries... in my experience win7 isn't the most VB friendly environment, & even if you run setup as admin you might get a lot more registry adds than the 34k I recorded in the XPMode VM [mileage also varies depending on VB support files already installed]. Registering the 2 Chilkat files was a big part of those 34k new entries, along with the VB files in the program's folder [COMCTL32.OCX should really be in the system folder] [for info on chilkat: http://goo.gl/vshJ5 ]. Otherwise you get the app's main folder [17 files weighing in at ~16 MB], plus an Image Assistant folder in My Documents. Setup includes 2 copies of the VB runtime, msvbvm60.dll, one for the app's folder, the other for Windows' system folder -- the one in the system folder stays or is registered, while the app uses it's private copy. Fully uninstalling VB support files themselves is iffy -- removing the program folder for an app like today's GOTD, with VB files registered in the app's folder, will break any other VB apps that used that now missing file.

To me Image Assistant's biggest plus is it's ease of use -- some people for example might be put off by the more complicated looking XnView GUI [free at xnview.com]. My guess is that it's been kept simple looking for that reason -- if you're used to &/or prefer contols/FX in their usual toolboxes, toolbars, & menus you might not like Image Assistant at all, but then if you're used to that stuff you probably have little or no reason to use Image Assistant anyway.

#1, Len, you might investigate PT Lens for lens distortions. Works fine for me.

#10: "One question: does this allow you to rotate pictures without loss of quality?"

Whenever something's stored in a lossy format [meaning that in the process of saving a file some data is tossed out] it's subject to generational loss. It also happens whenever there's a conversion to a format with a different way of storing data, or when contents are interpolated, e.g. with a re-size. Usually those losses are small enough they don't matter *too* much, but it's of course up to you to decide what's acceptable.

The most common way to keep those sorts of losses unnoticeable is to start with more data than you need -- take a picture with a 10+ megapixel camera, & you can afford to lose an awful lot of data coming up with the image you post to eBay. If/when you're working with jpeg images you can also use software designed to preserve as much jpeg data as possible -- Google "lossless jpeg" for lots of info, app listings etc.

This is what I've come to appreciate about GOTD, the comments about all the well written freeware alternatives that are available.

Not as unique as expected I'm afraid hence why pay whilst there are plenty free tools available?
Agree with #14 but XnView scores a wee bit better... I would go for that one.

#3: "... I’ll have to experiment with the program some more to determine if it’s worth the price after today’s free offering."

#6: "So why would you pay for this when FastStone Image resizer does the same things and is free? "

Purely FWIW, price vs. value is most always individual perception, e.g. many (most?) people buy name brands at the grocery store despite or instead of the cheaper house brand or private label. Or look at all the mp3 players available starting at just a few dollars -- they don't seem to put a dent in Apple's sales. Trying to judge the value of an app may be the hardest of all...

Software has little or no continuing production costs [you could argue that bug fixes are really a part of developing the next version], & while a furniture company has to physically make each chair they sell, a software company just needs to give you a disc or access to a download, both costing pennies per sale. That means you can sometimes pick up software at really big savings -- I've seen the win7 (3 lic) family pack for $100 [I paid $110 a month ago], I usually score McAfee 3 lic. versions for ~$12, I recently bought PaintShop Photo Pro X3 for $13 & so on. And every day of course there's the software on GOTD.

If it wasn't for all the people buying iPods, if it wasn't for Apple etc. creating that market, we most likely wouldn't be able to buy mp3/video players for <$20. If it wasn't for the people paying the higher MSRP, good [or great] software deals wouldn't happen either -- free-ware is generally created by individuals, not companies who have to make money to pay the bills. While I wouldn't [& in many cases couldn't] pay full retail, the *last* thing I want to do is discourage those people who do. Maybe some folks can't or won't wait until they see a great price on software [I've got a McAfee box on the shelf so I won't have to hope for a deal when our lic. expires this summer], maybe they don't have time to hunt deals, maybe they don't like what they get with free alternatives, but whatever their reasoning I'm glad for it.

So back to the original, quoted comments, again bearing in mind that this is totally FWIW, as mentioned I bought PSPP for $13 -- I had months to buy it from Corel or any number of retailers but I didn't think it was worth it *for me*, & in fact Dell had it for their daily deal twice, & I didn't buy it till the 2nd sale a week later... it was that close of a call. At the time Google shopping had it shipped starting at ~$50 [today Amazon is the low at ~$30, but most charge ~$50 (or more)]. Having installed & used the app I think it was worth the price, but that's just because I have a bunch of image editing apps already -- it *Definitely Does Not* mean everyone who paid more made a bad decision. If someone's choice last week [or tomorrow] was between Image Assistant or PSPP, & Image Assitant did what they needed, at $25 vs. $50 Image Assistant would not be a stupid buy.

What an app is worth is almost always up to the individual & relative to their wants/needs. That someone's paying at all means that either they don't know about free-ware alternatives, or don't like them -- for those that don't know, posts like #6 giving free alternatives can be invaluable. OTOH please don't think less of those who don't prefer the free-ware -- if the shareware & payware apps didn't add something to the mix no one would buy them, & they would have been pulled as the devs went broke... one reason why you should always check release dates at download sites BTW. ;-)

After reading the overwhelming negative responses to this software offer, I decided I would withhold judgement until after previewing the software site....that is until K9 Web Protection automatically blocked the site with this warning:

"Category Blocked
The site you tried to visit belongs to a category that your computer is set to block.
http://www.extralabs.net/image-assistant.htm is blocked because it is currently categorized as:

Spyware / Malware Sources
Sites which distribute spyware and other malware. Spyware is defined as software which takes control of your computer, modifies computer settings, collects or reports personal information, or misrepresents itself by tricking users to install, download, or enter personal information. This includes drive-by downloads; browser hijackers; dialers; intrusive advertising; any program which modifies your homepage, bookmarks, or security settings; and keyloggers. It also includes any software which bundles spyware (as defined above) as part of its offering. Information collected or reported is "personal" if it contains uniquely identifying data, such as email addresses, name, social security number, ip address, etc. A site is not classified as spyware if the user is reasonably notified that the software will perform these actions (i.e., it alerts that it will send personal information, be installed, or that it will log keystrokes).

Computers / Internet"

That decided it for me...No way I'll take a chance on this when there are free (safe, proven and true) alternatives out there.

Well the description looked good, shame the program is so basic. Wasted time downloading and trying, but have now uninstalled. Plenty of free software that is far better.

Another free program that works well is: http://bluefive.pair.com/pixresizer.htm

So many free tools (XnView, FastStone, IrfanView, etc., etc...) resize images in batch mode (and do very much more than that, also in batch) that it almost seems dishonest to attempt to sell the same functions (but reduced in features) for any price whatsoever. These days, and for many people, $25 is a chunk of change to pay for something available in a much better form for free. It's almost as if the developers of this similar tools are trying to take advantage of the ignorant public who absolutely would prefer XnView or FastStone for free if they just knew about them.

I saw a comment there is a tutorial on resizing - if I have to watch a tutorial on a simple step then it's questionable if it's worth it - I could not figure it our myself, I thought I clicked everything; oh well, it installed perfectly and ran and "converted" ok, but I'm not impressed; needs more user-interface work. Thanks for the opportunity to test it.

Didn´t find program's "Unique features" (see their Homepage) unique!
The following Software is free, portable and has lossless features:
- IrfanView: lossless rotate and crop (menue "Options", not: "Image")+ simple batch rename + OCR + ...,
- JPEGCrops lossless crop for other photo and screen formats, not cutting off feet etc.
- Ant Renamer Portable (and others) automatic file renamer.

State of the art is "lossless" JPEG-manipulation if possible! And I will never understand why many programs for picture manipulation etc. are not portable and need to bloat the registry! Image Assistant's homepage seems to ignore portable and lossless. Having installed about 100 programs + lots of portables, I'm a little bit shy about adding and trying just for fun.
Advice: Some time or the other I have to restore my Windows (Vista/XP) partition from backup-image. Some good programs on my separate program's partition which were not offered as portable, needed no renewed install and were still fully functional.

Completely unimpressed and immediately uninstalled it. Why on earth would you pay for this, when there are so many free options? Absolutely nothing new here.

One question: does this allow you to rotate pictures without loss of quality?

I found this had few options (no cropping that I could find, for example), and I couldn't get any large images accepted.

Too bad not for MAC

So why would you pay for this when FastStone Image resizer does the same things and is free? The FastStone products including their
terrific free Image Viewer have an excellent reputation and this piece of software has none. I don't have any connection with FastStone. Just been a very satisfied user for many years.

No thanks, I'll stick with the freebies I know and trust.

So, Picasa does it, FastStone does it. What's so new and fancy it would need a separate program ?

underwhelmed. FastStone Photo Resizer at least lets you set parameters for effects. this uses FreeImage [ http://freeimage.sourceforge.net/index.html ] as it's core, and doesn't go much farther. I didn't see a place to add new effects. thumbs down.

Len, there's at least one free photoshop/dog+world plugin for barrel and pincushion out there. [I use it in XNView] and the free PhotoFiltre has one too. Google and be free.

Easy download, installation, and registration. Initial experience with program is as expected (add basic effects, watermark, etc.) but I didn't see any help button, document, etc. other than the brief comments at each step. The developer's web site has only two flash tutorials (how to resize and add a watermark) and four screenshots. There is a forum on the web site but the entries don't appear to be very helpful either. That's about it. I suppose the author felt it was simple enough software that most users will be able to figure it out on their own. I'll have to experiment with the program some more to determine if it's worth the price after today's free offering.

I'll be giving this a try, see what it has over.... well, FastStone Photo Resizer to XNView. something really new would be handy.

I would add support for barrel and pincushion distortion correction, and make them adjustable for different cameras. If you did that, I would buy this just for that.