We'll start with the VERY basics.  To use Drupal, you need a server to install it on.  This could be your own computer, or a hosted computer.  I'm assuming you're going with a hosted computer, so other people can access your website.  This means you'll need a webhost.  Most webhosting companies are sufficient, though certain configurations are definitely favorable for Drupal.  More on this later.

Pick a Domain

If you haven't already, you'll need to buy a domain.  You can buy this from register.com, networksolutions, dotster, godaddy, 1and1 ... anyone you want basically.  Sometimes it's nice to have it be the same as your hosting provider, but you may want to keep it with a different company.  Up to you. 

If you buy the domain the same time you buy your hosting (ie: you choose a domain name during your hosting purchase), your domain name will most likely be automatically configured to point to your new hosting package.  If you buy your domain name from a separate provider (ie: you buy your domain from godaddy.com and you host your site at greengeeks) you'll need to be sure to set the domain's nameservers to point to your webhost once you have that part setup.

Domize lets you quickly search fod domain names that are available.

Pick a Webhost

Read more about my personal recommendations for a host on the "Choosing a Web Host" page.

Drupal's base requirements are found on almost any webhost you can find.  However, to make life easier, you'll want to be sure your webhost provides the following:

• supports PHP and MySQL. 
• You'll need either FTP access, or access to a web-based file upload utility.
• Either SSH access, or a web-based utility that allows you to unzip files on the server.
• Ideally, they access MySQL locally, ie: "localhost", rather than on a remote server.
• If they run cPanel as your 'management tool', great.  Others will work as well, but cPanel is pretty common, and does its job well.

Get the Tools

While you don't need to know any HTML, CSS, or PHP to build a basic website using Drupal, it's helpful to have a text editor in case you need to edit any stylesheets or template files.  I'd recommend either Notepad++, or PSPad.  They're small, free and make editing HTML or CSS files pretty easy.

You should also have an FTP client (CoreFTP is a decent free FTP client), though you could use your web-hosts upload utility or Internet Explorer's built in FTP ability if you'd prefer.  You'll need this to upload the Drupal package to your webhost, and to upload any future modules you'll install later.

If you're a tech geek, you probably already have an SSH client like putty.   If you don't know what SSH is, don't worry about downloading a client, you probably don't want to be using it anyway.  

Lastly, you'll need a couple hours free to install, configure, and familiarize yourself with Drupal.