I'm trying to rip some of my movies to AVI or similar, what is the best and easiest software to do this?
+1 for HandBrake http://handbrake.fr/ Also, DVD Shrink and DVD Decrypter. They're oldies, but goodies. The commercial applications from AVS are also good (on Windows).
I think that go to softpedia.com.end there you can search all types of Softwares. I agree with him/her
Take a look at doom9.org. It is the best site around for learning about and finding great tools for converting audio and video files.