It is NOT going to be easy, but please stick with it. In time you will gain a muscle memory and proficiency for its use. And you will only continue to get better.

I can't speak for how vim feels under Windows (I'm not knocking your OS, just commenting on possible issues you may have). If it seems non-native it may serve you to spin up a virtual Ubuntu instance and give it a try there.

Also, temper your expectations. The comment above by StavrosK [1] is good to keep in mind. Using vim feels liberating and fluid, but it will not improve your programming ability.

[1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4236181

I learn by watching and following along with examples, so the following YouTube videos are the ones that I've found the most useful:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71YTkxUNwmg <--Covers the basics and helpful commands. I had never used vim before watching this video, and now I'm reasonably competent at basic text editing.

I needed to do find and replace on a short story I'm working on (changed a character's name), and I found this one helpful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1_CfIb-3X4

I wanted to understand/use the .vimrc file, so I googled until I hit this one, which I found quite informative: [UPDATE: put in the wrong link, serves me right for picking the last history item with .vimrc in it instead of watching it. The actual video I found helpful was this one of a guy showing his .vimrc file and what various things in it do: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZuy4gBghho]

Lastly, once you're comfortable using it, try going into command mode and typing Shift-a, and notice that it moves your cursor to the end of the line and puts you in insert mode. I saw this tip on HN awhile back, and I hadn't seen it in any basic tutorials, but it is the single most useful command I've come across.

I would highly recommend 'The Practical Vim' by Pragmatic Bookshelf. http://pragprog.com/book/dnvim/practical-vim

It will teach you 'The Vim Way' which is a MUST if you want to get most out of it.

When starting with Vim, it can be very daunting and I can't emphasize that enough. If you are in NJ/NY, please email me and I can walk you through 'The Vim Way' to make it easier to get up to speed.

Start with Darek Watt's novice tutorial series[1]. He presented basic features of vim in a simple and a bit funny way.

http://www.derekwyatt.org/vim/vim-tutorial-videos/vim-novice...

:help tutor

Or, if you get bored: http://vim-adventures.com/

Smash into vim I + II (screencasts) helped me a lot.

Link: https://peepcode.com/screencasts