> Otherwise, hello to all and I'll continue reading until I figure out

what I

> need to download and how to configure and use FB on my XP Home machine.

Hello Rick

To get started, you shoud read the quick start guide which can be
found here:

http://www.ibphoenix.com/downloads/qsg.pdf

The windows installer is located here:

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/firebird/Firebird-1.5.3.4870-0-Win32.exe

I recommend you just click through the installer with the default
options. Good luck.

Adam