Getting started programing in Windows?

I want to start learning to develop in Windows (I'm coming from Java) and I do not know what software to download. I'm a student so I'm getting the software free from https://www.dreamspark.com/ (very nice of microsoft to do that). However there is a very long list of software and I don't know what I need. there are different categories as well. I decided that I don't need any of the server software, or the virtualPC (my computers kinda low-end) I am downloading Expression Studio right now but I'm not sure if I need it since I have photoshop. There are many applications under development tools and I'm not sure what I need and what I don't


Here is a list:


VisualStudio2010 profetional


SmallBasic


Kodu Game Lab


VisualStudio2010 Express


VisualStudio2008 Profetional


XNA Game Studio


Robotics Developer Studio 2008 RC3


Windows MultiPoint Mouse SDK


Windows Embedded Standard 7


Windows Embedded CE 6.0


Visual Basic 2008


Visual C# 2008


Visual C++ 2008


Visual Web Developer 2008


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what I'm pretty sure I don't need:


Windows Phone (I'm on Android)


Visual Studios ( I only need 1 of them. I might go with express, is professional that much better?)


XNA Game Studio (I won't be doing Xbox or Zune Development)


Robotics Developer Studio (If only I had a Use for this!)


MultiPoint Mouse (Seems kinda cool though)


Windows Embeded


Visual Web Developer (I have DreamWeaver)





Also: I'm kinda confused about the visual basic/C#/C++. I guess I should get all 3 but which language should I focus on?|||Visual Studio Express should be enough for a beginner. If you are a student, you can also get Visual Studio Professional for free. Of course, Professional has more features, but again, you don't need them yet.



Visual Basic, C++, C# are different programming languages.

I would suggest to learn to C++/C#. After a year or two you will see that it is a better choice.|||For 3D programs I suggest using Alice 2.0 ( http://www.alice.org/index.php?page=down鈥?/a> )





For just regular applications Visual Basic 2010 would be best ( http://www.microsoft.com/express/Downloa鈥?/a> (Look through the list for Visual Basic. C++ and C# are more advanced.))|||Whoa! You don't need even a fraction of that stuff to get started writing Windows applications.



All you need is Microsoft's own free Visual Studio 2010 Express development environment, which you can download from here:



http://www.microsoft.com/express/Downloa鈥?/a>



The Pro version is hundreds of dollars and doesn't really add anything that you need, unless you get into MFC (which I don't necessarily recommend) or other Microsoft-specific proprietary stuff.



You might also find a resource editor handy鈥攇oogle for ResEdit, which is also free. It's not absolutely necessary. (The Pro version of Visual Studio comes with a resource editor, but it's hard to justify $700 just for that.)



C++ and C are the standard development languages for Windows. C# is a worthless Microsoft invention, and Visual Basic is very easy to get started with but produces slower and more awkward code than a compiled language like C/C++. Since you can get all of these for free with the Visual Studio Express software, you may as well install them all, just in case you want some variety.