I am a rookie too, but I was able to do it without much grief.
Some tips:
As far as getting your paths right, connect to your site with your ftp program, go to the directory you will install it to, then look at the path in your ftp program. That was a big help for me.
I used the zip file, not the tar file, unzipped it on my pc, then had CuteFTP upload the wwwthreads directory and all sub-directories and files in one shot.
As far as the mySQL stuff goes, mine was super simple because my host (
www.pair.com) has a web page wizard that walked me thru everything.
Keep your head up. It may take you a few tries, but you will get it.
