Blender Newbie - Basic Controls Help

Thanks for your time to read this.
I can't get past tutorial 1. I resorted to the scroll button after tutorial 1 indicated I needed a centre mouse click... no centre mouse button.
When in edit mode I've found that the scroll wheel on the mouse widens the field of view regardless of scroll direction, rendering my model invisible to the naked eye. OOPS!
What the heck should I do - I'm willing to take time to learn but when It seems impossible to complete the first tutorial.... Is there a work around? Is there any point in continuing if there is no work around? Are they just badly written instructions? Have I missed something basic?
I'm running Vista for Windows.

Usually the middle mouse button is the scroll wheel. You should be able to push it down as well as rolling it. I'd recommend starting with the video series "Blender Basics" from http://blenderunderground.com go through them in the right order as each builds on the previous one.