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Your answers are on this site in the forums. :)
First, go to blocks admin from your administration menu. You choose what blocks you want visible on your front page there. You also choose whether you want the blocks on the left, center, center-left, center-right or right side of your site.
You also choose what order you want them to be in, in the column.
Go to groups admin and check all the boxes for webmaster so that you have admin control over everything. Then modify your anonymous users and your registered users groups to choose what blocks they can see on your page and what modules they have access too.
In admin menu, you also have a preferences link, click that. Go through all the links in your preferences area and modify them to your liking.
Go to modules admin and install all the modules you want on your site. If you want modules that are not included in XOOPS download, you have to come here and browse the downloads/modules area to find ones you'd like to have. Then you have to download them, unzip them and upload them into the /modules folder on your server. Read the readmes!
You will have to try out everything in your system admin to learn what it all does. I did. Answers to questions you have as you learn, can usually be found on the forums here using the search form. What questions you have, someone else has had them too. :)