General Strategy

Economy 101
The single most important thing in Starcraft is your economy.  Without a good, stable economy, your production will be awful, and without production, you will not be able to make any units, and that will KILL you.  Here are the basics.  You want to have 2 probes on every patch of minerals and 3 or 4 probes in every assimilator (depending on how far away the assimilator is from the nexus).  These are the optimum number of probes, as if you put more than this on a patch of minerals or an assimilator, there will always be a probe standing there doing nothing, watching the other probes work. 

The Start of the "Race"
Think of the beginning of the game as a race.  The second the screen turns on, and you see the nexus and your 4 probes, get your ass movin!! Since the mouse cursor automatically begins on top of the nexus, immediately left click on the nexus, and, on the keyboard, hit "p" for probe.  Then, grab each probe, individually, and set them each to work on a DIFFERENT patch of minerals.  Practice doing this as fast as you possibly can every time, and soon it will become a reflex, and will give you a leg up on others. 

Speed - Must Go Faster!!!
Starcraft is, after all, a "realtime" strategy game, so speed is a major factor in the outcome of the game.  This means doing everything as fast as possible, and having a set build order (at least at the beginning of the game).  This is VERY important vs. Zerg players who go for the early zergling rush.  Some zerg players can get a 6 ling rush off in 2:30 or so, and that is pretty damn fast for most Toss players to handle.  So, executing your build order as quickly and as efficiently as possible is of paramount importance.  Also, the use of short cut keys and "delayed" commands are very helpful to you by decreasing you micromanagement time, and letting the computer handle things. 

Shortcut Keys
All the shortcut keys are highlighted in the unit picture in the building from which they are produced, and they are also listed in the manual, so learn them!!

Delayed Commands
These things are pretty awesome once you get the hang of them, especially when moving probes to and from the minerals to build something, like a pylon. Simply grab the probe and tell him to build a pylon or something.  While the probe is moving to the location, hold shift, and right click on the patch of minerals that you want him to go to AFTER he is done warping in the pylon.  The probe will then automatically warp in the pylon and walk back and start mining again ALL BY HIMSELF!! You can also assign him to build 2 things in a row like this, or whatever else you need him to do. The only problem is that only 2 "delayed" commands can be issued to a probe before his feeble brain explodes and he forgets what hes doing, so dont overwork the poor probes. =)