Downloading and Unzipping 101 Before we discuss downloading normal files, we should discuss the types of software on the Net. Shareware is downloadable software that is free to try, but if you decide to keep it, you are expected to pay a registration fee. Freeware is downloadable software that's free for the taking, and usually the distributing, as long as the author receives proper credit. Other software available online includes commercial demos. Similar to shareware, demos are trial versions of commercial software, usually limited in some manner (the amount of time you can use them or the number of features they possess). Saving files and programs to your hard drive works similar to saving images, but all you usually need to do is left-click the appropriate hyperlink. Hyperlinks are icons, graphics, or words on a Web page that when clicked upon, open a new page or access a file. Text hyperlinks will usually be blue text until they are followed, or "clicked- through", and then they will change color (the default is purple - red is used many times). Hyperlinks leading to downloadable files will usually be a word or phrase describing the file. For example, if you're looking to download a program called Web Weave, the link will be something like "Click here to download Web Weave" or simply "webweave.exe". Left-click to download this file. Your browser will automatically redirect your request, often to a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) site. FTP used to be the standard for sending and receiving files over the Internet and is still the main way of storing files. But you usually won't have to see the FTP pages, recognizable by a gray or white background and lists of blue hyperlinks of file and folder names. Once the browser locates the file (again, you don't have to do anything during this process - which usually takes just a second or two), a dialog box will appear asking you whether you'd like to open the file from the Internet or save it to your hard drive. Make sure the Save option is selected (it should be the default), left-click OK, and then a Save dialog box will appear asking you where you want to save the file. Just as with saving pictures from the Internet, make sure you remember where you saved the files. If you've downloaded a file and you don't recall where it is saved, there are ways to find it. First, if you remember the name of the file you downloaded, you can attempt to locate it on your hard drive. In Win 95/98, use the Find function from the Start button. In Windows 3.x, use File Manager's Find function. Even if you don't remember the complete name, you can search for anything starting with the same letters or numbers. From our example above, you could search for "web" and the computer would turn up any files or folders that begin with "web". Also, unless you change the save location, your browser will always save files to the same folder. So fire it back up, download another file, and watch where this file is saved. Most likely, your other file will be in the same location. A file's type plays a role in how it is used. Some of the files you download from the Internet will be standard file types, such as .DOC and .TXT for word processing files and .GIF and .JPG for graphics files. But some files downloaded from the Net will be compressed to save space. Many of these, with an .EXE extension, uncompress themselves. Just locate the file where you downloaded it, double left- click the file, and follow instructions as it walks you through the uncompression (and installation if necessary). Other files, those with a .ZIP extension, will have to be uncompressed manually. Downloadable files are compressed or "zipped" to a fraction of their former sizes, so they take up less space on the Internet server (a computer that provides information to a network) where they are stored and make the file transfer easier. Additionally, since multiple files can be archived into the same zipped file, one click can download everything you need for a program, including all the text information such as the Readme and owner's manual files. Many programs available online and commercially let you compress and uncompress (or zip and unzip) files. One of the first compression programs was PKZIP from PKWARE Inc. (http://www.pkware.com). The main benefit of PKZIP is it will function on almost any platform. If you're using DOS or UNIX, hang on to this one. But if you're using Windows, CAM UnZip is much easier to use. A free version of CAM UnZip can be downloaded from my web site. After you've downloaded a couple or perhaps a couple dozen files, you'll be a downloading expert.