>I think that I only need to install
>vfp8r.dll
>VFP8RENU.DLL
>vfp8t.dll
>
>at least for now. My question is where do these files need to go. My
>guess is that I have two choices. I can put them in the same directory
>as the EXE or I can place them in \Windows\System32

It's not always called \windows\system32\, but yes that's where they go. You can look up the CSIDL locations (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb762494%28v=vs.85%29.aspx) to verify where, on each particular machine, those file locations belong.

>Second question is whether or not these files have to be registered or
>do they simply need to exist in the appropriate path? Does the folder in
>which they are installed matter for registration purposes?

Not 100% sure on VFP8 DLLs. For VFP9, I always register these DLLs, and I have not had an issue:
vfp9r.dll
vfp9t.dll