there are a lot of good freeware programs.  some are actually better in many respects than similar commercial applications.  some are not as helpful--not because theyre badly written--more because theyre marketing devices to encourage purchase of a nonfree version.  im not saying that's bad...just be aware of that possibility. 

virtualdub 1.5.10 is a gnu licensed application so it really is free.  i havent used it myself but it looks good.  note that you may need to download some components (filters) that might normally be included in a commercial release.  also it will read but not write mpegs...its mainly for working with the avi format.

oh  i just noticed you have a mac.   i believe virtualdub is a windows program.  there's surely something similar or perhaps better for mac users because the mac platform is very popular with videographers.

I don't have a mac. I used my freind's mac to do some stuff. I will try downloading virtualdub and see how it goes. thanks for the help!

I would recommend in general that if you're downloading an unknown freeware program, you should download it and then run Ad-Aware or SpyBot Search & Destroy (or both) before you actually execute it. Both should be capable, I believe, of determining if the program is spyware even before you've installed it.

Generally, though, I also would afford most GPL-licensed programs as more trustworthy in that regard.

Spyware?! The deeper I get into this stuff the more complicated it gets. Good advice, though. Thank you