I learned long ago that free EDA programs cost more in the end. I don't use Eagle (did once before Element 14 but any respectable EDA should have a built in simulator so I dumped it).
I bought the original CircuitMaker before Altium bought it and trashed it. There are people still using it and while it has some rough edges it has a nice simulator and will do small to medium size boards just fine. If you can find it around cheap it might be worth the effort to look into. I still have it on my computer somewhere so I expect it should work with Windows 7.
Look, you're getting a free program. That means you're at the mercy of the seller. So Eagle sucked a lot of people in and now they're changing tracks. First, it was OK cheap but not so great at a couple of grand. Now you spent time learning it and that's just what they hoped for, you're stuck, time is money and you just spent yours!
Buy a program, look at their track record and read their forum first, learn it and hope it will be around awhile. If you keep going to free, you'll keep getting burned.
I use Labcenter Proteus, not the cheapest but it has enough bells and whistles to keep me happy. It's much better than the cumbersome Eagle and has a great simulator if you get the advanced version. I'm not trying to sell anything, I'm sure there are great programs out there but if you want a free one, again, you'll likely get burned.
OK, I do professional work and don't have time to fiddle and nickel and dime my way through EDA programs or write ULPs. If I was a hobbyist I'd look for a solid older program like the Protel based CM I mentioned above and see if I could find it cheap.
Rob