The superb freeware image viewer IrfanView has hit version 4.44 with a pile of tweaks and additions.

A much-improved histogram is now modeless, and offers curves, RGB and other viewing selections.

The Batch Scan dialog supports scanning multiple pages to PDF files.

New effects include Gaussian Blur and Fast Gaussian Blur (Image > Effects > Browser).

The blurriness continues with a “Vertical Shift” effect which shifts each column of pixels up or down by a random amount (it’s much better than it sounds).

You get three new blur-related effects

A “Remove/ Insert Strip” tool removes or inserts areas of the image based on your selection.

The Metadata plugin now supports Unicode.

Assorted small additions range from the ability to show mouse coordinates, to a “Fill” wallpaper option, a “blurred image sides” option when viewing full-screen, and the ability to rename sidecar files along with your originals.

IrfanView is available now for Windows.