Gilrock, I have downloaded the two different version of Xlights as stated in original message and created a shortcut from the desktop. When you click on the shortcut it just takes you to your c:drive, instead of loading the page where you would begin to build your sequences.
You can go into "Programs" and you see the Xlights folder. You can then go into the Xlights folder and see all the individual files that makeup Xlights. No matter which file you click on from here, it still will not start the program.
So, I'm truly at a loss! I know my way around computers pretty good and can usually drill down and find a way to open a program, but not this time.