No problem
VC++ and C++ is just the same... It doesn't really matter to most people, I guess it would take you about a week to get into VC++ IDE (wild guess) and their linking and form creating.
There is no form creating in C++ (Dev-C++, NetBeans etc), so unless you want to hard code your forms, I suggest you at least
try Visual Studio to see if that's OK.
Warning: Pro edition = $$$, use Express
Using VC++ console app:
That's a template, with compiler and linking options set etc. All common C++ IDEs have those.
Any more I could help you with while we're at it?
EDIT:
BTW, you have VisualStudio 6???
Use it. Period
See a comparison on web between C++ in VS6 and newer. If nothing you absolutely MUST have, use VS6, I guess.