Hi nigelb_60 and welcome.

USB drivers are not available for Vista or Windows 7, so USB transfer is not possible.

The video recorded on your tapes is in a digital format and unless you have an iLink socket on your computer, you cannot transfer the video in digital format.

However, you can transfer the video using additional hardware.  Your camcorder was supplied with an AV Cable (3 X Phono on one end Y/R/W and a 3.5mm stereo jack on the other) so you can export the video in analogue video format.

To import this video into your PC, you will need an analoge video capture device which will re-convert the video to digital in a format your USB ports can capture.

Above is the analogue out of the Camcorder.  You need to buy a USB Video Capture device to re-convert to digital and import using USB.  You can get these from £10 to £150.  As you have the editing software already, I would try a cheapish one first and see if it is good enough.  There is inevitably some small loss of fidelity in each conversion process digital -> analogue -> digital but only you can say if the result is acceptable.

Plenty to choose from on Amazon: -

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_17/276-5197900-3127949?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=usb+video+capture+device&sprefix=usb+video+capture%2Caps%2C303

Check your version or Windows is supported by the one you choose.  This one looks OK: -

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Camcorders-Recorder-Satellite-playstation3-software/dp/B003D8VQIG/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1344717531&sr=8-3