I make all of my animations using GIFfun but I'm not sure if that program can be downloaded onto Windows. This is how I make my animations:
I draw the different frames in photoshop
Transfer them onto Appleworks to crop them
Transfer the cropped pictures onto iPhoto to transfer them into the smallest Jpg file possible
Upload them onto GIFfun to animate them
Upload them onto Boomspeed.com so that they can be used as avatars or webimages
It's a ong process and can be done much faster but IMO, this way makes smooter animations. here is an example of one of the animations that I made using this method:
http://www.boomspeed.com/stealthhipp...linkiestar.gif