[XeTeX] Windows Front-Ends and XeTeX

[Florian Grammel]

I've been asked by some friends to get them going with XeLaTeX.
As I'm Mac-only myself I was pleased to learn, that TeXLive 2007  
provides everything needed also for the those using Windows.  
Following a very positive review, we installed TeXnicCenter as a  
front-end.

As font-changing with fontspec and the like do work, XeTex is  
obviously installed, but everything outside ASCII is rendered as  
empty boxes. Files written on a Mac and sent to and xetex'ed  on the  
PCs in question do produce flawless pdf's, rendering non-ASCII properly.
My guess is that the file in TeXnicCenter just isn't saved as UTF8  
and thus not xetex'ed properly. If this is right:

- Is there a way to make TeXnicCenter save properly? (I couldn't find  
any, but I still cannot believe that an up-to-date app isn't Unicode- 
aware nowadays...)

- Could any of you recommend a good, stable, preferably free LaTeX  
editor for non-experts that _can_ be used with XeTeX?

Thanks in advance!
Florian.