Regarding Windows programming, I recommend
theForger's Win32 API Tutorial unless you wish to use MFC (Visual C++ only as far as I know). Of course, there are also Windows Forms now with the .NET platform, so that may also be an option. Personally, the Win32 API made me wonder why it is so complex. There is an event handler for EVERYTHING. A simple text editor can be difficult for a Win32 API beginner using just the Win32 API. As for MFC and Windows Forms, I have no experience with either of them, though I plan to look into MFC possibly.