I am trying my best to install and configure SharePoint portal 2003
trial version... It´s not going to well! Maybe some-one here can
help...? I´m pretty sure it is some kind of configuration
problem...but I just don´t know what is missing!

The installation is fine, but when the configuration starts - help
me god! OK, first question (start slowly):

1. Do I need to connect to AD to add users? Is there no other way in
adding users?

2. When I add a portal site, I can not open it (probably because I
have not figured out to connect user profiles?)
The only instructions I find are: "On the Manage Profile Database
page, click Configure profile import." However, I can not for the
life of me find this "Manage Profile Database" page! Probably
because I can´t open the top level site in the web-servies
(http://server_name site)

Can anyone help me with proper configuration instructions to get a
portal site to work?