Beginner's RTS

[Masterdog]

Hi all,

Can anyone recommend me an RTS for someone who's only real experience is the Settlers? I'd like to try getting into a decent RTS but I'd like one with a nice shallow learning curve and a decent tutorial. Don't really mind how old it is as long as I can get it to run in Win 7.
Ideally it'd be set in modern times but these seem to be in short supply so don't really care when it takes place. Any suggestions gratefully received!

 

[Masterdog]

Actually Company of Heroes looks ideal...WW2 would be perfect (when I said modern I meant not swords-and-sorcery kind of thing). Hopefully it'll break me in gently.
I tried Red Alert 2 back in the day and didn't really enjoy it but might have to give it another try now I'm old and more patient. Sup Com does look awesome but I'm a bit intimidated by the scale
Thanks for the suggestions chaps!