lol, i've got one of those too.
Jpegs lose quality most of the time during the conversion. My best advice is to get a different package to work with your images.
Jasc paint shop pro 8. You can download a demo.
What your "thingy" says about the forums is harsh but he's right. This place is the best place to get advice. All you can do is work hard, get a mission reviewed and present the high score to him (as long as it beats his
)