I had the chance to try Active Presenter and I agree it has a very confusing UI for a beginner. Lots of tools really I do not understand. I did not keep it as I have Faststone Capture(paid). But I tried BBFlashback and it was not so confusing. Of course the drawback was that it only supports one conversion to a file (.flv) I think(can't remember) but ti was simple to use. If your up to using the tools of AP then it's great freeware.
Actually I felt the same way at the beginning. I agree it looks all complex from first look, but in fact it's not
but very easy after some time, when you learn the controls. They've kept it Powerpoint like interface, so it's easy to workout. You can just work around with it , just like you use Powerpoint.
The recording part is easy, just like any other software, it's after the recording is finished, you get something la Powerpoint like interface, to play with the Editing tools. If editing is not required, simply export it to a format.