I recommend Microsoft Expression Encoder (the free subset of Expression Studio):
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/e...displaylang=en
http://www.microsoft.com/expression/
It doesn't have editing effects like Movie Maker, but if you only want to cut and merge, add static images, etc., it's better than Movie Maker. The problem with the latter is that it gives you very little control over resolution, aspect ratio, etc.