FAQ - Downloading software with Windows 3.1

One of the most fun and useful things about having Internet access is the huge number of software programs available for you to download. Many of these programs are either free or will require a small registration fee after you've tried them for 30 days or so. There is available software for almost any purpose.

In addition, commercial software vendors are increasingly using the Internet as a way to distribute free evaluation versions of their more expensive products. This gives you a chance to try them out before spending as much as several hundred dollars for a piece of software that may end up not filling your needs.

What do I need to get started?

This FAQ assumes you have Web Browser software (such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape) and know at least some basic Internet navigation - how to move from place to place on the Net. You won't need to know much else if you follow these steps carefully. Just print them out and put them by your side to read as you go.

What about viruses?

Viruses are a concern you should be aware of if you're going to download software. Viruses are small programs that hide in other software programs then once they are on your computer, multiply and cause damage to your files and data. They can be transmitted by installing files either from a disk or a downloaded software program. For more information about virii and virus software click here.

You can protect your computer from most viruses by installing virus scanning software. The following are available to download. Consider installing one or more of these programs before doing much downloading of other software.

www.mcafee.com/leads/evallead.html - You can download a 30-day evaluation copy of McAfee Virus Scan here.
www.commandcom.com/ - F-Prot also offers a 30-day free evaluation period.
www.thunderbyte.com - Thunder Byte is another good virus scanner that offers a downloadable demo version.

Finding something to download

Although you might just stumble on something you want to download while you're out there Web surfing, more often you'll need to go looking for it.

1. If the program or file you want is located at a site where you happen to know the address, just navigate to that site by typing the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) Internet address in the address or location bar near the top of your web browser screen, then click on the appropriate link or filename to start the download process. (If this is the case, skip to Step # 7.)

2. If the program you'd like to download is at an unknown location you can search for it at one of the many wonderful shareware archives on the Internet.

   Some good sources of freeware and shareware software programs can be found at the following Internet sites:

   www.shareware.com
   www.download.com
   www.tucows.com
   www.jumbo.com
   http://ftpsearch.ntnu.no/ftpsearch

3. We'll use shareware.com as our example. Use your web browser to navigate to www.shareware.com.

4. When you arrive at shareware.com you'll see a small window where you can type the name of a program or a keyword describing the kind of software you're searching for. (For example: virus)

5. After you've typed in your search, select your operating system (MS-Windows 3.1) from the drop down dialog box and click on the "Search" button. Pick the program you want to download from the list of matches that shareware.com has presented to you. When you've found the one you want, just click on the filename. You'll be presented with a list of download sites. Often the list has dozens of sites from all around the world listed in alphabetical order according to the country where they're located.

6. Although you can try any of these sites, it's considered good Internet etiquette and you'll probably achieve faster download speeds if you choose a site close to your own location. We suggest scrolling way down till you find the USA site listings and pick one of those.

Downloading the file



7. Click on the link representing one of these sites and wait at least 30 seconds.

8. You should soon be presented with a screen that looks something like this. If this doesn't happen just pick another location to click on. Although it may take several tries because many of these ftp download sites are very busy servicing other users, eventually you should see the screen mentioned above.

9. After clicking on Save File..., a "File Browser" window should appear on your screen that looks something like this. The purpose of this window is to allow you to choose the location of the folder on your hard drive where you'd like your file to end up. Just pick the folder you want your downloaded file to be placed in and double-click on the yellow file folder symbol next to the folder's name.

10. We suggest you write down the exact name of the file you're about to download before preceding further. (You'll see the filename near the bottom of the "Save As" window.) You'll learn to appreciate this step because it will make it easy for you to locate the file if it should get "lost" on your hard drive due to an error you may have made in the last step above.

11. Now click on the "SAVE" button and the download will begin. While your download is in progress you might want to go fix a bite to eat or grab a cup of coffee, 'cause depending on the file size and the speed of your modem it could take anywhere from a few minutes to a matter of hours for your download to complete.

Installing the file



12. OK, it's all downloaded and you are wondering what to do next. The answer depends on what type of file you downloaded. As you may know, most software programs consist of several files once they are installed on a computer. If left in this form, the program would be very awkward to download, file-by-file. So the various files are compressed together into one, larger file to facilitate the process of storing and downloading the program.
    
    The file names for the two most common downloadable file formats for IBM compatible PC's end in either .exe (self-extracting) or .zip (requires a helper program to extract - covered further in Step # 17 below). Extraction is the process of uncompressing a file and separating it into the several files that will allow the program to work properly on your computer.

13. If the filename ends in .exe, you'll need only to locate it using File Manager (a program built into Windows 3.1 that allows you to manage all the files on your hard drive - Find the program group called "main" and then double click on the icon that says "File Manager." In File Manager, locate the file you just downloaded in it's appropriate file folder and double-click on it. Most likely an Install Wizard will start to lead you through the setup process. Just read each screen that's presented to you and your program should pretty much install itself.

14. If the program doesn't automatically install, but instead you just see a black DOS screen pop up extracting the files, wait till the extracting process is completed and it will close the DOS window, click on another file folder, click back into the original folder your file was located in and you'll see a number of files where before there was just the one you downloaded. If one of those files is called either "setup.exe" or "install.exe", double-click on this filename to start an Installation Wizard which will install the program.

15. If there is no "setup.exe" or "install.exe" file you'll need to identify which file is the startup file for your new program. The correct file will always have a picture icon next to it and will be labeled "Application". It will be one of the larger files in the folder, but make sure it has a different name than the file you just downloaded.

What if I can't find the file?




16. Ah, yes! Well, remember step #10? You wrote down the filename before you began your download. You can locate it by getting into file manager, clicking on the "C Folder" and then going up to file, click on "search" and type in the name of the file you downloaded from the internet.
    
    Once you've located your file you can resume where you left off above.

What if my file is a .zip file?

17. If the filename ends with .zip, you'll need a helper program such as PKUnzip or Winzip (recommended for ease of use) to extract the file. If you don't already have Winzip installed, you can download an evaluation copy from Winzip's home page at Winzip.com by following the above steps. Install Winzip before trying to extract your .zip file beginning with step #13 above.

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"Downloading Software with Windows 3.X" by Jan Michael Pearson & Mark Carrier

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