Can I shrink files such as JPG's to meet the 39 kb avatar size? How?

You should be able to crop a photo in Windows paint.

I've used this - http://www.irfanview.com/

and this -

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/d...powertoys.mspx

See the image resizer listed farther down on this page.

I shrank mine

Ma granny in a hoverround

I usually cut, crop and resize most of my avatars in Photoshop.
Or just used one I've found.

I would have an animated one that I made but this site doesn't allow me to upload animated avatars.

^^^ My understanding, an animated avatar is one of the benefits of site membership.....