This is a step by step overview on how to install Arudino and the IDE on Windows
1) Get the IDE for Andruino by going to http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Software and downloading the zip file. Unzip it to wherever you like (I chose C:/Arduino)
2) Attach the USB cable into your computer and your Arduino. The green LED should light up.
3) In the Start Menu, enter devmgmt.msc in the Search field to open the Device Manager. The book I am reading says that you should see "Arduino Uno" on the list with an exclamation point. I did not see that. Instead under Other devices I saw an "Unknown Device", which I confirmed was what I was looking for by double clicking on it and changing the property dropdown to "Install Date", which revealed the time I plugged the Arduino into the USB port on my computer.
4) Either way, right click on this and hit "Update Driver Software", and then hit "Browse My Computer". Go the the folder where you unzipped Andruino, and then click on the subdirectory called Drivers. Windows will now search through this subdirectory to find the driver.
5) Go to the folder you unzipped Arduino into, and open the arduino.exe file. I also added this file to my task menu to make iteasy to open in the future.
