Someone asked me about this irfanView software I keep raving about.  You can download irfanView from:

http://www.irfanview.com/

 - and enjoy the effects!  Try using the Effects browser (shortcut: Ctrl+E), which lets you preview each effect and different settings of their control sliders. 

Much more than just a picture viewer, it will also play movies and songs (MP3 and MIDI), and is a very capable photo correcter and enhancer.  All the basic corrections - brightness, contrast, saturation - and colour balance (with separate sliders for Red, Green and Blue) are available from a single dialogue window; just press Shift+G, or select Image | Color corrections... from the menu.  Or apply an instant fix with Shift+U, or by selecting Image | Auto adjust colors.

Hey!  Did I mention it's free? Tho' its creator, Irfan Skiljan, says he would be honoured if you'd support him to the tune of 10 Euros.  If you want some more help to learn the basics of using irfanView to good effect, just drop me a comment here and I'll do my best to get you going.