yep, right you are Jason... as my pc doesn't have enough ram (or something like that... hehe) i can't install photoshop on my pc... so thanks to jason i downloaded and am still using paint.net to make my sigs. it is free and very very easy to use... although it doesn't have any where near the same range of plug-ins or brushes as photoshop.
so if you are after an easy to use program and don't want to use photoshop for some reason, then give Paint.Net a try.
thanks faerie for the links to get it, and also the plug-ins