I have no idea what other people are using to view image libraries. I'm sure there are some great tools out there, but when I first got a digital camera a friend recommended Picasa as a neat utility that did what I needed.

It provides a nice interface for scanning your images and number of functions including basic contrast, brightness and cropping. Most importantly when you're a camera noob like me it has a patented(?) Google-esk button 'I'm Feeling Lucky' which makes the changes it thinks the images need.

As a camera noob it's been my stalwart photo utility since the E550 came to live with me.

Lately I've been playing with Gimp, but thats on my list of things I need to learn so it'll be a while before I feel qualified to say anything about it other than "The name keeps making me snigger"

Almost forgot. Both Picasa and Gimp are free under their various license models.