Question: I am just starting out learning to program C++. Visual Studio is nice but its so picky and its caused a lot of problems for me getting my code to compile. So I heard code blocks is a good one. Does anyone know of any others that are simple and hassle free? I tried to create a hello world program in VS 2010 with the instructions in my book and of course it went crazy and said you can't do this that and the other. =/

Answer: 
You are going to have to learn, sooner hopefully, than later.. C++ requires you to be very specific in writing your code, and it doesn't matter which version you use. C++ is a standard language, and all compilers more or less conform to the same specification.

If your code isn't compiling, it's because you're doing something wrong when you are writing it. Give some examples, and we may be able to help. A new compiler won't change anything.
Not sure what you mean by picky – if you don't mean the compiler but the IDE (that it gets to much in your way in the writing process) I suggest you try it with a general-purpose text editor and standalone compiler instead. I like kate best, when forced to use Windows I take Notepad++. As the compiler you could e.g. continue using Visual, go for gcc (MinGW on Windows), or the Intel C++ compiler.

All that is IMO much easier on a Linux, so my recommendation would be [K/X]Ubuntu + kate + gcc. (You can still easily port the programs to Windows, much easier than it is the other way around.)