Mapping programs, Opinions on what's out there? Options

[TinkerGnome]

Alright, I'm vaugely considering picking up a FRPG again of some sort and I've decided to see if I can create my own world in total before going farther with the idea. To that end, I want to get ahold of a good mapping program.

The programs I've looked into a bit are Fractual Mapper v7.0 and Campaign Cartographer 2 Pro (the newest versions of each). There's also Autorealm and a few other freeware programs that I'm going to try out, but I have a feeling that they won't meet my needs.

My experience with CC2 has been less than stellar, but I've not used the new version of it and I might have still been in the steep learning curve that people talk about. I've seen good things about Fractal Mapper, but I hear that it has some higher level limitations which will become important at some point.

I'm also interested in more street-level encounter mapping, which is something I haven't seen at all from CC2. I'm currently using Visio, but I'm looking to move up in the world.

What do you guys use? Should I just go back to MS Paint?