This tutorial is aimed at a Windows user looking to start with erlang, it will help you set up an effective development environment, without proper tooling erlang seems underpowered. After all you wouldn't write java code in notepad.
Save yourself some time early on and just use linux for erlang development. Erlang does work on windows but most testing of the SDK, open source libraries and tools gets done on linux so things just seem to go more smoothly in this environment.
Download VirtualBox and a supported version of Ubuntu. Install VirtualBox and create a new virtual machine using the Ubuntu ISO.