how do i adjust points i've already made?
such as adjusting individual ones?

with the direct select tool its the white arrow...not the black one.

ah hah
erm, what do i do now?
as each time i try and move something, the whole area moves, rather than the point?!

Deselect the object and then use the white arrow to click on the corner point you want to adjust. It should hilight the shape and the point you clicked on should be a solid little square while the other points should be a hollow square. If they are all solid points then you didn't click on just the point (and this is when the whole shape will move).

Once you have one point selected you can select others but holding down shift you can then move all the selected points together.

cheers!

yeah what freaky said ;)