Windows 10, Melpa, TSL

[Bo Grimes]

System and Relevant Portion of .emacs

GNU Emacs 24.4.1 (i686-pc-mingw32)
Windows 10 Home, Version 1607, Build 14393.51

(require 'package) ;;
(add-to-list 'package-archives
             '("melpa" . "https://melpa.org/packages/";))
(when (< emacs-major-version 24)
  ;; For important compatibility libraries like cl-lib
  (add-to-list 'package-archives '("gnu" . 
"http://elpa.gnu.org/packages/";)))
(package-initialize) ;

Problem, Possibly Solved

I'm not a programmer (by any name).  Just an ordinary person cursed with 
a need to use software I can adapt to myself.  I wish I was: "Word?  
Evernote? That's how you write and take notes? Perfect! Got it. Thanks." 
It would make my life so much more simple. I am able to make Emacs and 
Org-mode work more like my brain wants to work than anything I have 
tried since stumbling on the Internet in the computer lab during grad 
school (history) in the early 90s, so I persist.

Yeah, I know, stop narrating (see history above).

Yesterday, I wanted to install csv-mode because I decided to move what 
little spreadsheet work I do for record keeping into Emacs as well.

The Packages buffer loaded fine, but when I tried to install I got: 
"could not create connection to melpa.milkbox.net"

After some Google work, it seems I should have been using melpa.org not 
melpa.milkbox.net, so I changed that, and still had the same problem.

I rarely ever install packages since all I really do is take notes, 
manage tasks and write, but just two weeks ago I played around with some 
new themes out of boredom with the one I have been using for a year, and 
everything worked fine.

Some more Google work led me to believe it was a TSL problem.  I 
followed the advice here: 
http://xn--9dbdkw.se/diary/how_to_enable_GnuTLS_for_Emacs_24_on_Windows/index.en.html 
which is basically:

Get GnuTSL, extract, copy DLLs to the bin directory of Emacs, restart 
Emacs.  It worked.

So, what's the problem?  The problem is I don't know what I did, and I 
don't like that. I don't know if I really fixed anything or if I created 
potential future problems.  The only change to my system for months has 
been Windows updates, and everything worked fine just two weeks ago.