Noob to vb.net,need some guidance and tips for begining

[mandi]

Hi guys,
this is just another noob asking advice regarding where to begin ?
I am much intrested learning vb.net programming and after learning some programming I am intrested in making my own programs,but here are some if my worries

1)ok I decided where to start?

2)with in how many days can I able to cover the basics?


3)i know that making programs in vb.net requires .net framework on the pc which we need to run,but I don't like this,is it possible to convert the code from vb.net to other languages and build a application ,so that I can able to run with out .net support

4)can you guys recommend me some good e-books which contains step by steo instruction regarding learning the basic of vb.net,+ recommend me some sites where I can get some open source codes for vb.net applications and some videos(if any ) regarding learning vb.net

I am here to ask suggestions and guidance from the programmers here,if I am wrong just correct me and guide me in a proper way for learning,donot flame.

hope I will get some guidance and tips from the programmers here..