What safe and free camera product would you*

[puggsoy]

As far as free ones, you'll probably want to use Fraps or Gamecam if you're recording games.
I personally use Camtasia, but it isn't free...

I thought you needed to buy them to get the full functionality. The demo versions of both Fraps and Gamecam have a 30 second recording time limit.

Correct. I also think Fraps has a watermark in the trial.

Personally I use Taksi, but it's not the most user friendly thing ever. It takes some time to get your settings right, since you need to find a codec that gives you smooth performance, good quality and a manageable file size (1MB per minute as opposed to 500MB).

I would recommend that you give HyperCam a go, it's somewhat more user-friendly than Taksi and does pretty much the same.