Please excuse my dumb-ness (if that's even a word), but I am as dumb as a rock when it comes to database stuff. However, I am going nuts trying to do something.

I have multiple files in Windows Excel format (xls) that I would like to put into a searchable database and use it as a program (a not for sale program, but to freely distribute to whom ever would like it)

Now for the dumb question... is there a program (software) that I can "dump" this xls info into and save it to a searchable database?

Depends on what type of database and server-side language you can run on your website. For example, using phpMyAdmin is excellent for importing CSV data into a MySQL database on a PHP enabled system.

If you're using asp, you can actually query the Excel file directly using SQL, as if it were a database. The OleDb Provider makes things easy enough.

All versions of Excel can write csv - comma separated values - files. New versions can also write xml files. Either one can be imported into most databases. How you go about it depends on which one you use.