I used the executable file not the zip archive. I found octave.vbs and made a shortcut. Thanks for your help.
I don't know why but if it didn't create the shortcuts it may not have done the rest of the post install setup.
From within octave, does
pkg list
Shoe you a long list of installed packages? If not try running
pkg rebuild
And then
pkg list
Second, in the same folder as the vbs file to start Octave, do you see a fc_update.bat file? Running that will ensure that the font cache has been updated and reduce some long delays that might make you think the program has stalled.