So I took 10 minutes to install CamStudio - once you 'tweak' its settings it is very impressive!
Install took only seconds, and once installed I was able to quickly capture a vid. My first test vid though was very 'grainy' when moving... though fine when standing still.
I then had a look at the options for CamStudio and found where it was using the Codec for encoding the avi files. A slide bar was showing 70% Quality as the default... once I changed it to 100% and did a second test it was VERY nice
I'll be using this program to do some more captures later this week and can easily add it to the tutorial should these good finding continue. MUCH easier to use than Camtasia, this should allow more people to make easy vid captures - and ya gotta like free!