windows - Changing the date of an image file

I'm going through the thankless task of scanning old photos and archiving the digital copies.

Is there a way to modify the date of scanned image files (typically .jpeg) to more closely match when the photo was taken rather than when the photo was scanned?

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Edit: I'm using Windows (Vista for now).

I'm fairly ignorant of the exif data that is being mentioned in the answers. Is the exif data linked with the file's date/time attributes somehow? Do any of these tool allow manipulation of the file's date & time as well as the exif date (assuming these are separate)?

Answer

First Edit the Photo Date - For many photo management programs to work properly, you should first change the internal EXIF data which contains the date information (among other information) about the photograph:

ExifTool

Time Stamp Modifier for JPEG Files

Exifer for Windows

Then Sync the File Date to the Photo Date - You can then use the ExifTool to Sets the photos' file dates from EXIF information:

ExifTool

Note: If you don't want to set the EXIF data first, there are plenty of programs to change the creation date/time of the original file directly:

How to change the modified/creation/last-accessed date for files and folders