I use PSPad on windows. www.pspad.com/en
Easy, free, lightweight and can even be used as a portable app.
Got the usual, syntax highlighting, with the majority of the major languages ready to be highighted.
Built in FTP, so can edit easy too!
On Linux I use MC (Midnight Commander)
I tried vi back when I first started out, and could find out how to close it.. emacs freaked me out more....so I left it all behind me and went with MC.
In KDE, I run Kate, nice program to use.
On Mac, I use BBEdit or anything that is easy to use straight away or just lightweight to startup to do any minor changes, saves hogging it all the time.