PSP5 finding the best compression for a .jpg

An earlier question about .gif compression prompted someone to ask
me how to compress .jpgs.  Seeing the steps written out, I figured that
there's *got* to be an easier way to do it, either by using a different
method with PSP5, or maybe there is another program that does it
better.

So.... here is the reply I sent.  Does anyone know a better way / program?

(Thanks a million in advance, BTW  :-)
==================================

1) Open up your image with File | Open
2) Make three copies of it by pressing Shift-D three times
3) Close the original (to avoid any nasty mistakes  ;-)
4) Select the first copy and select File | Save As
5) From the "Save as type" drop down box, select "JPEG - JFIF Compliant
(*.jpg; *.jif; *.jpeg)"
6) Click the "Options" button
7) Use the slider (or type in the value) to set the compression to 15%
8) Make sure the "encoding" is set to "Standard" (unless you want a .jpg
that "fades" in like an interlace-.gif, but this can result in bigger file
sizes, someone said)
9) Select "OK"
10) Type in a filename (I use "Filename15", to indicate it's had 15%
compression)
11) Repeat the process for the other two images for 30 and 45%
compression, altering the filenames appropriately
12) Close the 3 new images
13) Select File | Open, and reopen the 3 images you've just closed, and
you can see how .jpg compression affects the quality of the image.
14) Decide which .jpg has the best compromise of compression versus image
quality - ie, you want as much compression as possible, but not so much
that the image looks awful.
15) Delete the two you're not going to use, and closes PSP and delete the
numbers off the filename.


Thing is, with a .jpg, if you compress it too much (to get a smaller file
size), the quality of the image becomes unacceptable.  So..... the knack
with .jpgs seems to be try differing levels of compression until you
determine the point where the image starts to look too poor to use, and
compress it to just slightly less than that.  But, with PSP5, you don't
see how the image has been affected until you've saved it with
compression, closed it and then reopened it.


==================================



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