I saw many threads about Force.IDE installations issues.   I think that for non-developer newbies (like myself),  it is more important to know which installations are working. (e.g which combination of Eclipse version and Force.com IDE plugin are compatible). So I'd like to share my experience

Here please find my installation procedure which was successful and smooth

1)      Install Eclipse Classics 3.7.2 (Indigo SR2) : here is the download page  http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/packages/eclipse-classic-372/indigosr2

2)      Install Force.com Plug in for  Eclipse 3.6:  please follow this instruction:   http://wiki.developerforce.com/page/Force.com_IDE_Installation_for_Eclipse_3.6

The above installations just installs folders with a bunch of files. You DON'T need Admin access to do the installation. But you need to make sure that you install it under a directory to which you have "full control" access. (e.g. "My Documents" folder).

If you have already installed other Eclipse version (e.g. Eclipse 4.2), you can either keep it or uninstall it (there is a uninstall directory under Eclipse folder. I could not recall the detailed path).  It is not a problem to have multiple Eclipse versions under the same machine.

(PS: I first tried Eclipse 4.2 with Force.com plug-in for Eclipse 3.6 and ended up with error related to missing component.  I tried various solutions mentioned in multiple threads but could not fix it)

Bing Maletz