Sorry, I meant free-libre, not free-gratis.
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"Software" was being problematic (as usual). That's why I used Discover instead. Today finally able to find Converter in Software.
Looks nice and simple (although a bit heavy, 116mb installed size; by comparison, mtPaint's installed size is 1.8mb), you can drag and drop pictures on it. But after clicking "Convert", it gets stuck. After waiting a couple of minutes, I tried closing and got "Stop converting? You will lose all progress". Eventually I clicked "Stop", closed program and tried again. Same thing again.
So Converter is a bust (at least for me).
re Gthumb, the "save / save as" process is doing my head in. I've been "saving" and "saving as" in multiple programs, formats and operating systems for decades, but I cannot for the life of me work out how to do it right in Gthumb.
Just when I think I understand what I should do, something like this happens:
- I open "pic.jpg" in Gthumb, crop, resize and compress it, and (in my opinion) save it as "pic-crop.jpg".
- I then find that the original file "pic.jpg" is cropped, and "pic-crop.jpg" is resized but not cropped.
There must be some way of doing it right but the whole point here is to minimize/eliminate learning curves and just get a simple task done quickly.
So for now I guess I'll be sticking with mtPaint (where "save as" works like every other program ever made).
I customize keyboard shortcuts in GIMP so that I can quickly access frequently used functions.
Obviously there are multiple ways to achieve the final results I want, but the way I achieve them is also part of what I want.
The problem with terminal commands, of course, is that if I don't use them every day (or at least a couple of times a week), I forget them. I know I can always google it or "man imagemagick", but it takes me 20-50 times as long just to read and understand the man page as it does to just do what I need in a GUI program. With a GUI program, the possible actions and the means to achieve them are presented to you front and centre, no matter how long it's been since you last used it.
(Furthermore, I've now realized that I also want cropping. I don't think there is any such thing as CLI cropping, is there? Unless somehow you know exact coordinates in the image where to crop.)
I'm not 100% averse to the command line, but it has to be something I use often enough to memorise the command (e.g. sudo apt install ...). I will try to use CLI more in future but for some tasks (especially basic and not very frequent ones) I just want a simple, light GUI.
Your link gives the GUI tool Trimage. I realize you were focusing on the CLI tools, but I'll give a quick review of Trimage here in case anyone is interested.
Trimage is a simple, drag and drop GUI to compress images. But with my test image, it only brought the file size down from 7.2 to 6.9MB (4.1%). It doesn't do resizing or cropping. It doesn't allow adjustment of compression quality rate. (As far as I can tell, it doesn't have any adjustable settings of any kind.) And I now realize it doesn't "save as". The 7.2mb original is now gone, replaced by the 6.9mb compressed version.
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This is very true.
Though GIMP also offers batch processing.
I use GIMP and sometimes Pinta when in a hurry. I am very supportive of the Pinta Project even if I admittedly do not use it often. But I do use it when it beats GIMP at certain tasks. For example, replacing multiple images - With GIMP you must export each image through a series of several whacks at the enter key over a pop up. With Pinta, select save as with ctrl+shift+s and it also remembers your last position. It makes doing that task much faster.
Gimp really is not difficult to learn. I realize that you omitted it previously but maybe it really is time you took another look at it.
I cannot think of a GUI tool on Windows that fits all these requirements either.
You may be able to work around the issue using autokey:
I use several hotkeys to enter complicated or lengthy terminal commands that I do not often run.
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I really hate to repeat myself but learning a few simple task on GIMP is probably what you want, long term at least. Cropping, resizing and compressing are tasks easy to do with it.
I never used it for batch processing however, other than tediously doing it one by one, but in the case of cropping you have to do it this way anyway so... if you only need to resize or compress images, I found that article shared above, using imagemagick very useful.
Would you be interested in a script that prompts you for the most common options? That would be a fun exercise for me to do anyway, but I can't promise it will be on top of my priority list.
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Thats why I write occassional used terminal commands on paper, in a low tech notebook. It's quicker to find them than doing websearches.
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I use a better method to help me to memorize long terminal strings.
There are two electrodes connected to two wires that go on each of my wrists. Every time I type the terminal command incorrectly, the operator presses a button giving me a painful shock.
In no time at all, I am able to memorize even the most complex of strings.
Though I admit; I get less than stellar results when I let the cat be the operator instead of a family member.
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I'm going to mark this as solved, with mtPaint as the solution. Simple, light, GUI, resizes, compresses. Bonus: crops too.
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Does it Batch convert and Batch rename if so I might be interested in taking a look at it ....
Ooooops never mind I see it is only for Widows and not Linux .... at least their website doesn't show a version for Linux ......
It is in the Universe repository:
sudo apt install mtpaint
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Thanks I'll give it a shot .... if it doesn't work for me I can always delete it .... 
I tried it out - it was ok.
It didn't really replace anything GIMP or Pinta offers, or add anything new - for me. So, I have uninstalled it, now.
As far as just a paint apt it looks OK to me but as far as imaging program for me I'll stick with XnView MP ..... but XnView has very little to offer in the way of altering the physical aspect of a photo so I might just keep mtPaint for a bit as Gimp is much to complicated for my brain to comprehend .... 
If you mean mtPaint, it's for Linux. I don't know about batch, that's not what I'm looking for.
That's the point 
I want something that subtracts from GIMP. I just want to quickly adjust a few screenshots and screen photos taken doing the things I need to be getting on with (Zorin reinstallation, wifi, Anbox, wine, wechat etc). I don't want to stop everything to have to spend hours learning about GIMP options, shortcuts and .xcf files just to adjust a screenshot.
Now that I've used it a bit more, I realize another feature I'd like is an easy way to blur. In mtPaint the procedure is, well, insane.
So I tried Pinta. After the first blur in an image, the program froze. I had to quit, hitting close in the "Program not responding" box. The second time I opened Pinta, it just disappeared a few seconds after I loaded the screenshot. And again the third time. No idea why it keeps crashing.
Trying again in mtPaint, I see now there is a different "Smudge" tool. Not ideal for large areas but OK for obscuring a few bits of text in screenshots. So mtPaint remains the solution for now.
I really do not understand the penchant for extreme exaggeration that humans like to use just to make a point.
What you just said above is akin to saying, "I do not want to have to stop everything I am doing just to spend hours learning how to use my File Manager." It doesn't take hours, you don't have to stop doing anything and the entire comment is exaggerated to the point of becoming an absurdity.
And now... You have spent a lot of time messing with mtPaint and Pinta and exploring them - that you could have used that time to easily pick up how to Crop (Drag rectangle tool) in GIMP and Export it as a .png file.
GIMP: Select Filters - Select Blur.
Normal Blur softens the image. Gaussian blur allows you to adjust the radius for a more blurry effect. Pixelize allows you to create a pixelated blur. Just choose the effect you want. Click the "ok" button. It even has a preview so you can be sure before committing to it. And if you still don't like it... Click the undo button and it is undone.
I am sorry for being so blunt. But you really are dancing around the tool you really want because you have created a perception based mental block against it.
What 4box sees when he launches Gimp Menu. :
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That is the flight deck of Space Shuttle Endeavor.
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