Wiggly,
Paintshop Pro is a good way to go for starters; but it sounds like you might get serious, as you are already worried about losing image quality in the compression. Adobe Photoshop is fairly easy to use but has lots of advanced features. In particular, it uses its own format to store images that retains all original scanning data. You then print, save or e-mail in whatever format you choose. The original remains on file with all original data.
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Info noted. Plse report further.