a horrible program that should never be used for spriting because it sucks so horribly and it sucks so much that there's a special place reserved for it in hell because it sucks so bad
D:
I've used Windows 7 Paint for my spriting ever since I got my netbook. IMO it's more "organized" and it easy to find the things you need. (Well, I've never done sprite shrinking like your project or have ever used Vista Paint so this may not be true)
But I'm going to try Vista Paint now, so my opinion will probably change. Based on your post, I think I've been missing out!