Help with sony vegas and/or corel videostudio

[ex-swaggerd.livejournal.com]

I want to make a video but this video does not want to be made apparently. For reference, I am running windows 7 on a PC.

The first program I tried was Windows Live Movie Maker. I drag and drop my .avi (they're all .avi) file into the program. All it does is repeat the first frame hundreds of times. I zoomed out and pressed play. Thing wouldn't budge.

I then downloaded the free 30 day trial for corel videostudio x5. I've used older versions of this program in the past. It's not the greatest but it suits my needs and I thought for sure this would work. Well, it does work. The video runs smoothly. But there is no sound. Music plays fine but it refuses to play the audio from my video files. I downloaded the divx codec pack. Did nothing.

For my third attempt, I downloaded the 30 day free trial of sony vegas 11. I've used older versions of this program in the past as well and with good results. My hopes were high for this one. After installing, I eagerly double-clicked it to open. Nothing. I tried to open it as an administrator. Nothing. I tried to troubleshoot the compatibility. Nothing. I deleted it and re-installed it. Nothing.

Can somebody please give me some advice on how to fix any of these problems or recommend a free or trial version of another program that might work? I don't need anything fancy. Just be able to trim clips and add a title and credits w/music. Any help is welcome. TIA.