does anyone know of any freeware c++ compilers where i can just drag or run whatever.exe myfile.cpp and get an executable?
DJGPP (AKA GCC for Windows)
MinGW (AKA GNU development environment for Windows. Less complete than DJGPP, but it works in Win32 natively compared with just plain DOS in DJGPP)
Cygwin (AKA POSIX compatible, but slow, though more comprehensive of GNU tools in general)
which one of these will let me drag my cpp files onto the application and just output a file?
I don’t think there’s any C++ compiler (free or not) that will do that. Consider the fact of what libraries have to marked as linked to the executable and so forth. There HAS to be an interface to set up switches.
You could build one fairly easy for simple projects.
But why not just craft a makefile that will do what you want?
Anyway…I think it’s possible to have a make rule that would build any arbitrary c/c++ source file. I am not a make guru. But you could definately build a shell script that would work.
ps. Long time no see dodgerdog 
you know… i was just thinking about my first screenname today, weird that you mention it. Good to see you Kooch!
And DevC++ works wonderfully!