I have been learning ASP.NET using Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition. Along the way, I came across this structured set of ASP.NET tutorials at DotNetSpider. I want to give them a plug – although the tutorials could be polished some, they are very easy to follow and build up slowly on a good fundamental base. I am halfway through them right now.
I also like Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition – it is free to download, use and distribute applications.