npm node-gyp install issues on Windows 7 - windows

Question

So, I don't know what was wrong before, but the solution was to uninstall Node completely and reinstall it. It came with the module already. I haven't figured out how to use it though because typing node-gyp doesn't work.
I am trying to install node-gyp using Node 8.1 (because I have to use this version). When I type
npm install -g node-gyp
I get the error message "SSL Error: SELF_SIGNED_CERT_IN_CHAIN"
I'm using npm 1.1.33, which I thought might be a problem, so I tried to upgrade using npm by following this link.
Dallas Brittany#ZTALEI ~
$ npm config set ca ""
Dallas Brittany#ZTALEI ~
$ npm install npm -g
npm http GET https://registry.npmjs.org/npm
npm http 200 https://registry.npmjs.org/npm
npm http GET https://registry.npmjs.org/npm/-/npm-1.4.15.tgz
npm http 200 https://registry.npmjs.org/npm/-/npm-1.4.15.tgz
C:\Users\Dallas Brittany\AppData\Roaming\npm\npm -> C:\Users\Dallas Brittany\Ap
Data\Roaming\npm\node_modules\npm\bin\npm-cli.js
npm#1.4.15 C:\Users\Dallas Brittany\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\npm
Dallas Brittany#ZTALEI ~
$ npm -v
1.1.33
But, as you can see, it didn't upgrade anything. So I also tried
npm install npm-latest
and got the following:
npm http GET https://registry.npmjs.org/npm-latest
npm http 304 https://registry.npmjs.org/npm-latest
npm http GET https://registry.npmjs.org/lodash
npm http GET https://registry.npmjs.org/request
npm http GET https://registry.npmjs.org/vcsurl
npm http 304 https://registry.npmjs.org/lodash
npm ERR! Error: No compatible version found: lodash#'^2.4.1'
npm ERR! Valid install targets:
npm ERR! ["0.1.0","0.2.0","0.2.1","0.2.2","0.3.0","0.3.1","0.3.2","0.4.0","0.4.1
","0.4.2","0.5.0-rc.1","0.5.0","0.5.1","0.5.2","0.6.0","0.6.1","0.7.0","0.8.0","
0.8.1","0.8.2","0.9.0","0.9.1","0.9.2","0.10.0","1.0.0-rc.1","1.0.0-rc.2","1.0.0
-rc.3","1.0.0","1.0.1","1.1.0","1.1.1","1.2.0","1.2.1","1.3.0","1.3.1","2.0.0","
2.1.0","2.2.0","2.2.1","2.3.0","2.4.0","2.4.1"]
npm ERR! at installTargetsError (c:\Program Files (x86)\nodejs\node_modules\
npm\lib\cache.js:586:10)
npm ERR! at c:\Program Files (x86)\nodejs\node_modules\npm\lib\cache.js:464:
15
npm ERR! at saved (c:\Program Files (x86)\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modul
es\npm-registry-client\lib\get.js:136:7)
npm ERR! at c:\Program Files (x86)\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\grac
eful-fs\graceful-fs.js:230:7
npm ERR! at Object.oncomplete (fs.js:297:15)
npm ERR! [Error: No compatible version found: lodash#'^2.4.1'
npm ERR! Valid install targets:
npm ERR! ["0.1.0","0.2.0","0.2.1","0.2.2","0.3.0","0.3.1","0.3.2","0.4.0","0.4.1
","0.4.2","0.5.0-rc.1","0.5.0","0.5.1","0.5.2","0.6.0","0.6.1","0.7.0","0.8.0","
0.8.1","0.8.2","0.9.0","0.9.1","0.9.2","0.10.0","1.0.0-rc.1","1.0.0-rc.2","1.0.0
-rc.3","1.0.0","1.0.1","1.1.0","1.1.1","1.2.0","1.2.1","1.3.0","1.3.1","2.0.0","
2.1.0","2.2.0","2.2.1","2.3.0","2.4.0","2.4.1"]]
npm ERR! You may report this log at:
npm ERR! <http://github.com/isaacs/npm/issues>
npm ERR! or email it to:
npm ERR! <npm-#googlegroups.com>
npm ERR! System Windows_NT 6.1.7601
npm ERR! command "c:\\Program Files (x86)\\nodejs\\node.exe" "c:\\Program Files
(x86)\\nodejs\\node_modules\\npm\\bin\\npm-cli.js" "install" "npm-latest"
npm ERR! cwd C:\Users\Dallas Brittany
npm ERR! node -v v0.8.1
npm ERR! npm -v 1.1.33
npm ERR! message No compatible version found: lodash#'^2.4.1'
npm ERR! message Valid install targets:
npm ERR! message ["0.1.0","0.2.0","0.2.1","0.2.2","0.3.0","0.3.1","0.3.2","0.4.0
","0.4.1","0.4.2","0.5.0-rc.1","0.5.0","0.5.1","0.5.2","0.6.0","0.6.1","0.7.0","
0.8.0","0.8.1","0.8.2","0.9.0","0.9.1","0.9.2","0.10.0","1.0.0-rc.1","1.0.0-rc.2
","1.0.0-rc.3","1.0.0","1.0.1","1.1.0","1.1.1","1.2.0","1.2.1","1.3.0","1.3.1","
2.0.0","2.1.0","2.2.0","2.2.1","2.3.0","2.4.0","2.4.1"]
npm http 304 https://registry.npmjs.org/vcsurl
npm http 304 https://registry.npmjs.org/request
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Additional logging details can be found in:
npm ERR! C:\Users\Dallas Brittany\npm-debug.log
npm ERR! not ok code 0
Any suggestions?
Thanks.