Part of the problem Ed is you are making suppositions that have no basis:

I think the tripod site was a link that came along with the CodeStuff folder
No link would come in the program. I just tested this myself, on two machines, this one I am running Windows 7 and my other machine that runs Windows XP. I uninstalled Codestuff from both. Downloaded a brand new copy on both. I received the exact same thing I received in the first place, the CodeStuff Starter program, period. No link anywhere, just the program.

The ONLY way you get a WOT warning is through a browser, when you go to the link that is what the WOT add on is..A Browser Add-on, it doesn't work on it's own without being attached to a browser. As I said, whatever it was that you saw and however you got there was not because of the Codestuff Starter program and the link you got could not have been the real Tripod, Tripod has an excellent rating from WOT.


I am dealing with a new to me OS, totally different from Win2000, a machine that probably attracts attention on line
Nobody online knows what operating system is being used. Only thing online nasty people look for is an operating system that is not fully up to date. They don't care WHAT system it is, though for the online nasty people...the OLDER the system likely the better because older operating systems are much less secure, but they don't see or even care what the operating system happens to be. Windows 7 is much more secure than any of the older systems.

On top of that, a completely new concept to me in video editing.
These are my concerns for you Ed;
You absolutely, positively need to learn the operating system FIRST before you also try to do something else brand new. You will never be successful using either one if you don't take the time to learn each one fully FIRST and in order to do video editing you FIRST need to know how the operating system works, and it DOES NOT work like Windows 2000.
If you don't learn this system first then you are at great risk of losing it all, you won't know WHY because you won't know what you have done to have possibly made it happen. You will have no idea on how to backtrack. You have to learn the system first.

The reason for the uninstall was that I had placed the program in a Startup folder instead of creating its own folder on the D: drive. The similarities in the name, and the other factors of stress, caused me to overlook that. So I went the uninstall reinstall route.
That statement right there really says you don't seem to have even basic computer knowledge. All you would had to do is MOVE the program to the proper location, OR if you preferred, though it would not have been necessary either, Uninstall the PROGRAM and reinstall it. A reinstall of the operating system for this very small issue is really comparable rebuilding a bookcase because you placed a book on the wrong shelf, or cutting off your hand because you have an ingrown fingernail, two things you would never do. Totally unnecessary.