i think your started to get bogged down with the confusion of RAW images.. and i think that for a while that untill you understand why raw images are produced that you stick with just running fine (high res) Jpegs...
Run the camera in auto for a while, get used to using it.. and in the end you will find that RAW images are only good for you if your into doing a lot of post photo prepping and alterations.
Its quite specialised and time consuming... you can loose hours into making a photo how you want it in RAW..
So all i will say for now.. is forget all the programmes, they can come later.. stay away from them if anything!
Just pull out your SD card and shove it into your computer, pull off the files and run them in a standard photo viewer..
My suggestion would be to find photos you like that you have taken, right click on the photo and look at the advanced properties.
This should tell you what aperture your shot was taken with, at what focal length and the exposure time etc.
You will start to learn what settings make for a good photo, i didnt get into my raw images for about the first 9 months of using the camera!