I wrote about TextPad a few months ago.  The one problem with TextPad is that it costs money.  You can still use it if you don't pay money, but you're reminded every time you start it up.  With that in mind, I started looking at other text editors.  I found a free one that seemed to get some good reviews:  PSPad.  It's pretty configurable and has some great functions, but it's kind of slow.  It takes a few seconds to start up, and when I want to view a tiny little text file, I don't want to wait a few seconds. 

Enter Notepad2.  I've been using it for a few weeks now.  It's a lot like Windows Notepad:  It's simple, small, and fast.  But unlike Windows Notepad, it has syntax highlighting and a few other goodies.  And it's open source, which means that people can edit it and do other cool things with it.  The one thing it's missing is system integration.  Never fear, Mr. Internet is here!  This link explains how to replace the Windows Notepad with Notepad2 (or really anything else).  This link explains how to add Notepad2 (or really anything else) to the right-click menu.