Hi mbologna, welcome to our great sport!
Knee pain can be caused by a number of things, including seat height, fore and aft adjustment, and pedals.
The book "Bicycling Medicine", by Arnie Baker has a good section on this and may help you.
The red cleats should be OK, as they have some float that allows you to position your feet on the pedal, but your LBS should be able to help with adjusting the tension, and also advice on seat positioning.
What gearing are you using to start off with. If it is too big a gear, forcing you to put a lot of pressure on the pedals to accelerate, that can be hard on the knees. You might have to use a lower gear ratio to spin faster. Also warming up for a few minutes in the lower gear at the start of your ride can help.
Hope some of this helps.