While I use Elements for most of my work nowadays, I used to use the free software program
"Picasa" from Google... It's what I recommend to various friends and relatives who want something for casual photo editing.
I still use Picasa when trying to find a specific photo, since it loads more quickly than Elements...
Pros for Elements: Powerful, fairly complete.
Cons for Elements: Relatively expensive (though cheap compared to Photoshop), there's a learning curve...
Picasa Pros: Free! Easy to use. Has a "I'm feeling lucky" button. Free! Does 90% (or more) of what a casual user wants to do.
Picasa Cons: Limited feature set compared to some programs. Not all RAW formats supported.