Alfred, thank you for the reply. I will look into PhotoScape and IrfanView. I have tried the GIMP as well as Paint.net, but will keep poking around.
Are you also thinking of doing the Affinity Photo beta or are you already super comfortable with PhotoPlus such that you are not predicting any benefit to switching?
Since AP is only avail on Mac and PhotoPlus is exclusive to PCs there is very little in the way of comparisons. What little I have found seems to imply that PhotoPlus is a less "professional" tool, more along the lines of Photoshop Elements (some advanced capabilities exists but are veiled behind an interface designed for beginners). Whereas Affinity Photo is the more full featured Photoshop competitor.
If the differences are major, then it makes sense to bring AP to PC as a pro tool and keep PhotoPlus as the more entry level tool. But the price points of each seem to be in favor of the opposite being true. If PhotoPlus is less feature rich than Affinity Photo, why does it cost nearly twice as much? Maybe Serif is planning to phase out PhotoPlus on PC as Affinty Photo adoption increases? It seems a bit confusing to me.