if accessing my DOS start: I have: C:\Users\proton>_ while the manuals say C:\windows\desktop\. Is this going to make a big difference

It shouldn't, depends on how you loaded perl. If it is ActiveState, it should have updated your path variable with the location of your perl.

You might want to get an editor made for programming instead of using Notepad (that comes with Windows). I use Crimson Editor and it does what I need. (You can also download it here.)

Update Seeing the response by syphilis, are you running the program by typing at the command line perl myprogram.pl?