postgres help

I've gone through all the steps to set up postgreSQL on windows XP.  I
have updated permissions (to /tmp /usr/bin /usr/bin/*), verified the
system path variable, and verified that ipc and postmaster services have
been started.  I don't understand why I'm getting the following error:

$ psql -U postgres template1
psql: could not connect to server: No such file or directory
         Is the server running locally and accepting
         connections on Unix domain socket "/tmp/.s.PGSQL.5432"?

The error does not change if I log in as myself or as postgres.
Any hints as to what to try would be greatly appreciated.