Lets start with the easiest one..

This tool is called “Image Resizer” and is part of Microsoft PowerToys utilities for WindowsXP. This is one of the simplest utilities which does the job excellently well.

• Download the utility from here or click here to visit the downloads page.
• After installation, right click on any image and click on “Resize Pictures”
• Select from the options available to you as shown in the image below.

• Once you select from the options, click “OK” and it will create a copy of resized image.

Another option is by using Microsoft PowerPoint (2007):

• Insert the image to a presentation you want to resize or compress and using the points at the edges change the dimensions of the image  and double click on it.
• From the “Format” options click on “Compress Pictures”

• Click “OK” if you want to go with the default options or click on “options” to see advance options for compression.

• Choose from the available options as shown in the image and click on “OK”

• Now right click on the image and choose “Save As” and save the compressed image. (Note: These steps are for PowerPoint 2007, however other versions follow similar steps too)

Irfanview is another option which can be used for resizing or compressing an image. Click here to visit Irfanview downloads page.

Another easy way of reducing the size of an image is by uploading it to any of the picture sharing sites. Such sites offer image downloads at different sizes. Following sites will offer images at different sizes once uploaded.

• Flickr
• Picasa Web
• Photobucket
• Kodak Gallery
• SmugMug

Hope this helps