I think it is a little odd that your computer doesn't have a firewire port. Anyway, as AZfats said you can get one pretty cheap. So, the steps you need to take to download your video off your camara are first, connect video camara to the computer by USB or prefered Firewire port. As AZfats said your computer should see that something is connected. This brings me to step 2. Make sure your computer and whatever editing software can recognize your video camara. Most editing software will actually display your camara model number when it sees it. If you computer and editing software can see your camara, most of the problem is gone. Vegas 7 is a very nice editing software. I have used Ulead which I think is a pretty easy one to use and under $100. Otherwise if Movie Maker (which is probably already on your computer) can see your camara you can easily use it.