For windows ME (ugh, i hate it with a passion, crappiest OS EVER) or XP (best OS ever, aside from MacOS 9.2) use Windows Movie Maker. It's free, built in, and very compatible. If you run anything else, and have a copy of Microsoft Powerpoint XP (included in Office which was included in the kit this year) download Microsoft Producer (which is essentially identical to Windows Movie Maker). It's an add on for Powerpoint XP which allows editing of videos, which is kinda cool. It's what I use to edit all the commercials out of whatever I record, or to splice together random anime, such as the entire Lain series
Marc