[entwisi]

I'm betting they are bitmaps (.bmp) files. If they are convert to jpeg or if monochrome GIF. This will save you a load of memory both in stoarge and processing RAM.


try "the Gimp", its freeware and simply superb and open source(free!)

CPU is fast enough to not show a slow down unless you are doing something really silly in the sharpening department.(usually a 10Megapixel image off my DSLR atkes ~ 4-5 seconds to run through an unsharp mask at default settings, I once set them a bit silly just to see and it took it 5 minutes! this is on a 3 gig dual core machine with 2 gig RAM btw)

slow saving suggests a huge file.