500.0 Error when trying to open simple Hello World asp page

I am trying to create a few ASP files on my local computer and view them.  However, when I try to view even a simple Hello World! message in IE, I receive a 500.0 Error in IIS 7.5.  The error says that "The page cannot be displayed because an internal server error has occurred."  I am fairly new to ASP, so could someone please help me figure out what to do.  I have looked on the web and a few posts say to edit the registry, but I am uncomfortable doing this.  Is there another way to fix it using the IIS Manager?

Chris Cote