Change pics to gif format

[doug]

     Help ........ I want to change a photo to a gif format to use as an avatar, but I can`t find how to do it. I need somebody clever to advise me ......... 

     Doug.

[Mike]

Open it in any piece of imaging software Paint.net is a good free one. Then save it as a gif.

[mickw]

Download and install Irfanview -

http://www.irfanview.com/

Run Irfanview, and load old picture.

Click on "Image" - "Resize/Resample"

Select "Set new size as percentage of original" - change values to about 10% that should be good enough for an avatar - Click "OK"

You now have a small picture but not a GIF.

Click on "File" - "Save as" - NOT "SAVE"

From the drop down menu at the bottom, select GIF (or Compuserve GIF) - Click "Save"

Make sure you know where you are saving it - there is a drop down thing at the top which you can change.

Job done.