i realy need one, BAD, all the others I use either have no erase button, or you have to buy the whole version to save!
MS Paint. 
Paint is the absolute best!
Also, use unfreez for gifs.
use paint for basic sprites, however, when you get more complex (rotations) you might end up using adobe photoshop, which is just as good as paint, its just more complex and harder to use at ease (which is important for most sprites).
use ms paint, only adobe for when you really need it. 
Yeah. I use IrfanView for color changes sometimes. When I want to make a textured area into a wrinkled textured area, I select some parts of it, paste in IrfanView, and increase the brightness a small amount, then paste it back into Paint where it belongs.
Nothing will ever replace old fashion paint. It’s all i use, and its all i need.
agreed. Paint is the best. When i was noob i thought, as quoted from dazzy, “people think that if they get Photoshop, they’re ‘ZOMG I AM TEH 1337 SPRITER!!! 
’” not exact quote, but you get the picture.
no i really do think im better at it then before. Thx to all the comments from the people on these forums and some observations of other’s sprites.
Thanks, i’ll try it!