Hello again...3 simple questions:

1. Is there a mod that will place some starter weapons into my backpack at the beginning of the tutorial? So I do not have to loot all the items I come across in the dungeon?
2. Once I leave the dungeon tutorial, where can I go to upgrade my armor and weapons? Do they drop from mobs I kill? or do they need to be bought from a store?
3. Where are the stores? I see in videos there are some in the areas surrounding Imperial City, but having only dont the dungeon tutorial, I do not know how to get to those areas from where I come out of the sewers....

Thank you for the help...as you can tell I am very very new to the game.

No idea about mods, but looting is half the fun of most rpgs.
You can pick up every item you see on enemies, armour and weapons, and if you join the fighter's guild, there is free stuff.
Just click on a city on the map, you will fast travel to the gates. Not teleportation, time in game passes so it's assumed you took the roads.

1. You can get a mod that will give you starting equipment and skip the tutorial entirely. It's called http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=11495.

2. The only way to upgrade equipment is to get new and better weapons/armor. You can make current equipment more effective by using repair hammers, but you need to have your armorer skill 75 or above. You can get new equipment from stores, dungeons, bad guys or steal them from homes. Many options are available to you.

3. There are stores in every city. Check your map and look around town.

Yes, there are mods such as you seek. Sorry I don't know or use any like that, so you might try searching TSNexus or asking on our mods forum.

Yes, upgrade by buying or looting better stuff. Gernerally, looting from your foes will work better and cheaper.

Take all the junk you looted from the tutorial and lug it up to the Market District. There you can sell it in the several shops there and net enough money to upgrade a few things. If you loot the sacks and barrels and crates in the city, you can sell some more stuff to make some more money.

If you want to upgrade weapons and light armor, you might (while in the Market District) pop into the Market Sewars. There you are likely to find a bandit or two with gear a little better than yours.

1. If you want balanced starts, look into Alternative Start: Arrive By Ship or Alternative Beginnings, otherwise there are plenty more cheaty starter gear mods (giving you things like 1000000 gold, full Daedric armor, etc.) on TESNexus.

2. Armor is upgraded by leveling up your character and exploring dungeons at specific levels. Early in the game, it can be accomplished by buying new gear at shops, but the usefulness of the shops as equipment upgrade centers dies very quickly, so you will need to move on to plundering dungeons soon after (at about level 5, the usefulness of shops for new equipment starts going downhill, and by level 8 you will have almost no reason to ever buy anything from them again save repair hammers and arrows). Due to the way this game is balanced, you will start finding new, better armor pieces as you level up in both the loot chests AND on your opponents. However, take note that many people (myself included) think that this system is flawed (as in badly), so try it out first and see if you like it. If you don't, don't worry, there are mods that can fix this.

3. There are shops in every major city in the game (except Kvatch, but I won't spoil anything). You are allowed to fast-travel to every major city right from the start, as well, so I'd suggest taking some time to get acquainted with each of the eight major cities in this game as you learn the ropes.

Actually, the steel shortsword you get near the beginning of the tutorial is a good enough weapon for a low-level character, and if you follow the Main Quest, you will soon be given an opportunity to get better stuff. Or, as mentioned above, sell all the junk you can carry, and buy whatever strikes your fancy.

The fact is that a good weapon will not make up for low-level skills, but raising your skills will make even a poor weapon better.

Exploring is the other half

This mod: http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=12275 is probably the least "cheaty" starter gear mod I've come across. It's mainly Leather and Steel armor, 30 arrows, some potions, etc.

As far as alternate start mods go, I think that http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=25591 is head and tails above every other alternate start mod available. You can postpone the main quest or start in one of 45 locations around Cyrodiil. You also have the option to let the mod surprise you with a random location. You can choose starting gear (iron, leather, clothes) and a few other roleplaying options.

One of the things that sets this mod apart from others for me is that you make your chargen choices by traveling from altar to altar in a really attractive landscape. You activate a Race altar, a Birthsign altar, etc, until you've made your character and have chosen your starting location. You can change your mind at any time by activating a previous altar. When you are finished you activate a magical "gate," which offers you your final gear choices and sends you on your way.

I agree. I started using this starting mod several months ago (I think because you recommended it.) I have found that it not only gives me the freedom to start the game the way I want to, it also has inspired character development that probably wouldn't have otherwise occurred to me. The "Dream World" in which you build your character is really quite beautiful and well designed.

It also allows you to begin the main quest in prison, but with your class and birthsign already established, and with all your class skills available to you.