Can someone kindly explain (step-by-step

I would prefer 'VS2015' IDE on Windows, but will use Ubuntu/linux IDE if configuration is easily explained.
I will be setting up a virtual machine (i.e. VirtualBox) from scratch dedicated for this purpose...
My initial experience following the few instructions given on the documentation page left me stranded- (some authorization issues)...
I have software development experience with source control (Mercurial) but am a complete newbie to GitHub and Git...
Thanks in advance,
Greg