anyone recommend one? 
it should take in pictures, change video size, have some transitions and effects.  i tried vista's but it doesn't allow changing the video size or changing the size of the effects

You can change the size of the video using Windows Movie Maker. See this link:

http://www.papajohn.org/MM2-SavingMovies-CustomProfiles.html

I would recommend getting the older windows movie maker 2.1 which has more features than the one included in Vista.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/moviemaker2.mspx

You can also use VirtualDUB:
http://www.virtualdub.org/

good luck,

FlyerX

mencoder (comes with mplayer),
avidemux,
virtualdub

Good depends on what type of video editing you are trying to do.  As for free, you can find a few that are able to cover the basics.  But if you want more then most likely you'll have to purchase software to be able to do what you are really trying to accomplish.

good suggestions so far ...here's what i did for windows movie maker.
i make a new xml i got from
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb288304%28VS.85%29.aspx

and embedded this line to make the pan effect work at the right ratio

good ol microsoft

Try Avidemux. It supports lots of formats, exports in many, and has effects, etc.

www.avidemux.org

Pinacle VideoSpin - Movie Maker alike but more in/output formats
Wax - unlimited number of video and audio tracks
 

I really like Virtualdub.

i guess this sort of fits with the op ...
i shot a video with my camera ...640x ... 2 minutes, AVI format.
 It is 160meg in size. Will one of the listed free editors reduce that in file size, and still keep a decent resolution so it looks good and maybe save in a format that can be used on Youtube ?

Quote - i guess this sort of fits with the op ...
i shot a video with my camera ...640x ... 2 minutes, AVI format.
 It is 160meg in size. Will one of the listed free editors reduce that in file size, and still keep a decent resolution so it looks good and maybe save in a format that can be used on Youtube ?

160MB can be uploaded directly to Youtube without any changes.  The limit for Youtube uploads is 1GB.  So no editing or size reduction is necessary. I recently uploaded a video that was more than 160GB with no problem.  If you are trying to reduce the video for different purposes such as being able to play video back on cellphones then I would recommend a paid video editing software something like Roxio or Nero video editing.  But as for your current situation there is no need to reduce the size of it for youtube, since it's well within range and under 5 minutes.

Many of the video editing software that you have to pay for converts is able to convert the video in various different video formats as well as reduced the size of the file with minimum quality loss.
I personally haven't tried any of the free software simply because the video editing that I do requires much more than what the free versions offer.

ah ... very cool ..so I just maybe need the free one to place titles, etc..maybe some background music?

Quote - ah ... very cool ..so I just maybe need the free one to place titles, etc..maybe some background music?

Yes the free video editors should be able to do this.  From what I've seen just from looking at free versions of other software.  If it's something that is considered basic then most likely you'll be able to do it in the free versions of that software.  It's only when you get into more complex functions that the company will try to get you to purchase it.  

I'm thinking that many of the free video editors will convert to a few specific file formats, but in order to convert to a larger range of formats they'll require that you purchased the full version software.