I appreciate everyone taking time to help with all this startup stuff. Seems the file system is important to learn, and things need to be installed in all the right places. Creating unique characters sounds like alot of fun once everything is finally in place. I've been learning a small bit of modeling using Truespace the past few months. I've not gotten around to attempting to model a character from scratch yet, but I've heard it is one of the more difficult things to model. 
I can pop out a music track pretty quickly, but learning 3D modeling is a whole different ball game! I'm hoping I'll be able to apply some of what I learned from the TS program over to Poser.  I know it's gonna be a slow learning process, but great to know there are experienced users here who are willing to help make it go smoother. Thanks again.