Suggestiong for Starting this project with Visual C++ ----------------------------------------------------- Start Visual C++ and do "Help / About Microsoft Visual Studio" to determine the version number. Microsoft Visual Studio ----------------------- File / New / Project - enter a name for your project, such as Phase1 - if necessary, enter the same name for your solution (should happen automatically) - uncheck the box saying "Create folder for solution" - select "Empty Project" and double click On the bar on the right, select "Application Settings" Under additional options, choose "Empty project" Click on "Finish" Project / Add New Item / Visual C++ / Code / C++ file (.cpp) - give it the name "main" or whatever you want - click Add - enter your program in the main.cpp file