Serif have launched their free beta version of their Affinity Photo software.
This has been available for some time on Mac but is now available in its beta form for windows. It was heralded as a photoshop killer on Mac, so probably worth a look. I've used Serif for the past couple of years and found it simple and well supported, I've just downloaded this and straightaway seen some features previously available only in PS.
Head to Serif.com and follow the links to affinity if you fancy a legit copy of some software
affinity beta
Re: affinity beta
The program is now out of beta and is mainstream. Serif PhotoPlus X8 is not supported anymore as Affinity is the new program.