you need to learn a lot more to use graphics. most windows apps use the win32 API to display windows/pics/etc.. here is a tutorial bout it tho:
http://www.relisoft.com/win32/winnie.html

this is where i first learned to make a GUI (which btw is not taught in most C/C++ classes becuase it is not standard, and is OS dependant)

I prefer Win32 API over MFC, but I reccomend you try both and see which one you like better:

http://winprog.org/tutorial/

As for harcore graphics such as Direct Draw 3d and DirectX heres a good source to start:

http://www.drunkenhyena.com/

try making a screen saver

There are a lot of beginner;s resources and such at http://www.thefreecountry.com and http://www.freeprogrammingresources.com for programmers, especially graphics. You also want to check out Adam's assembler tutorial and Denthor of Asphyxia's assembly language tutorials-- the latter is really graphics-oriented--for the real workings of what goes on. They also have several really good PutPixel algorithms, which is really all you need for graphics programming. They can be found at www.programmersheaven.com and gamedev.net, respectivly.

P.S. PERSEVERE!!! I cannot stress how important this is to learning assembly language. It is not like C++ at all, but it is very educational.

I suggest Allegro, its an excellent API, my favorite for 2d work
allegro.cc