Hi.. there are a few free fractal programs around... i use Tierazon, apophysis, chaoscope, ultra fractal and gimp.. to name a few.. fractals are great.. there is never ending different possibilities.. and im sure once you start like most of us fracatlists... you will be hooked...
if you need a hand on anything once you get started.. just yelll.. if i cant help you.. there are a few on here who can.... take care.. and HAPPY FRACTING... :d

HAVE A LOOK AT THIS SITE.. IT HAS A FEW FREEWARE FRACTAL PROGRAMS WITH TUTORIALS....

http://www.fractalarts.com/ASF/Download.html

I use Fraxplorer (part of Kai's Power Tools), Tierazon, Apophysis, Chaoscope, Ultra Fractal, and Fractal Explorer as my fractal generation programs. Then I take them into Photoshop to manipulate them further. You can look through my gallery to see what I do with them. Need more info? Ask, I'll be happy to reply.