Basic Question on input to PostgreSQL I have installed PostgreSQL on a Windows XP laptop so I can learn about using PostgreSQL. My problem is that the PostgreSQL tutorial starts of with the instruction 

To create a new database, in this example named mydb, you use the following command: 

$ createdb mydb

My problem is that it doesn't tell me how/where to input the command.  I have found access to an SQL Shell but it doesn't perform as expected.

What is the 'proper' way to input commands?

No GUI ?
createdb is a commandline tool which should be run in a Windows commandline window ("Start -> Run -> "cmd.exe"). You have to have PostgreSQL's bin directory in the windows PATH in order for this to work without supplying the full program path.

As an alternative you can run SQL statements using the program psql (which is also a command line program).  You probably also have a start menu entry in the PostgreSQL folder name "SQL Shell" (or something similar) which starts psql directly. 

A list of GUI tools (apart from pgAdmin) is available in the Community Guide to PostgreSQL GUI Tools.