One of the great benefits
of the Internet is all the software. Freeware and Shareware are everywhere
just for the taking (and trying before buying for shareware). Along with the
benefit of freeware and shareware comes the perils; the possibilities of
downloading viruses. Everyone has heard the horror stories of the virus that
ate the hard drive. There are 3 important steps to successful downloading.
1. CREATING A TEMPORARY DIRECTORY: When you find a program
that you want to download, and you click on it, most of the time you will be
prompted to select a directory to download the program to. I recommend
creating a directory called C:\TEMP in your windows File Manager or Windows
Explorer if you are running Windows 95 before beginning the download, and
using it exclusively for downloading files and programs.
2. EXTRACTING OR UNZIPPING THE FILE: Once the download is
complete you must either unzip it if it is a zipped file (file with the
extension .zip) or Explode it if it is a self extracting file. Either way,
it must be contained in a Temp type directory to prevent unnecessary
drivers (used only for setup) from being spread through out your hard drive.
3.VIRUS CHECKING THE FILE:
ALWAYS check the file for viruses before unzipping or exploding (if it
is a self extracting file). Winzip has a virus scanner built in, go to
actions, then click on virus scan. Getting a virus scanner such as Norton
Anti Virus and running it in the background is a good idea.
4.SETTING UP THE PROGRAM: After extracting or exploding
you will find a setup.exe which you can either RUN from Program Manager or
double click on from the Temp Directory in which the setup file is located.
The setup file will Set Up the program to its own directory (i.e.
C:\Netscape). After the program is set up you can return to the Temp
Directory and Delete everything there because you no longer have a use for
the set up information.
