I should clean all three DLCs and the update ESM files but I should leave Skyrim.esm alone correct?

That is correct.

Thank you I wanted to touch base and make sure I understand this correctly, thanks. I have no desire to wreck my game with mods. This is my first foray into modding and its a beautiful thing.

What is the best tool to unzip tes5edit, I have the file and it says windows cannot open it.

Could I get instructions on how to download this file step by steo so I know I am doing this correcctly please.

I cannot find installation instructions in the tes5edit readme and I cannot find a video that actually shows me hoow to extract the file from the file I downloaded