Which program is the best and simple enough for digital photo editing?

Since early 2005 I have used Picasa  (Googles free software).  Just today I tried, on a recommendation,  FastStone 4.7 and here is my findings---

Picasa is super easy, has very good cataloging and sorting features and has an adequate editing program.  It does have a few gimmicks that I don't bother with.

FastStone Is more detailed for editing and takes longer to edit each photo.  It seems that the end result is very slightly better.  It does offer a noise reduction feature that Picasa doesn't have.

I have both available on my computer and as all downloads go to "Windows Pictures" automatically and then are picked up by both programs they interact for sorting, labeling and editing.  If I make a change on one it will be picked up by the other so I intend to run both in parallel.

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Don V. Armitage