Get a FREE fully-working copy of Steganos Security Suite 7 (worth £49.99) when you sign up to the Practical PC Newsletter. How to Download files - Part 2
In Part Two of this Beginners' Guide on downloading files, Kai Chandler looks at how to find, download and install a file from the Internet.
In Part One we looked at how to download files from Practical PC's own download libraries.
In this second and final part, we look at how to find, download and install a file from the Internet. There's an incredible wealth of programs available on the Internet - all you have to do is find them. Here's how!
Google is one of the best search engines. If Google can't find it then it's probably not there. Let's say you want to find a fishy screensaver. Just as an example.
Step One
Type www.google.com into the address bar in AOL or Internet Explorer. Then type "fish screensaver" into the search field. After a second of two you'll see a selection of likely sites. Other searches might include "zip freeware" for Winzip equivalents or "wp shareware download" for shareware word processors.
Step Two
Google will come up with a list of links. Choose one by clicking on the blue link.
Step Three
A page on the website will appear. Look for and select the invitation to download the program you require.
Step Four
You may be prompted to Open the file or save it to your computer. Best to save it so you can install it whenever you wish.
Step Five
During the download you may be asked where you want to save the file. In this example, it's being saved as setup.exe in the download folder. It's best to make a note of the folder and filename.
You'll often see a download status window showing you the name of the file you are downloading and the 'download to' destination.
Step Six
To install the downloaded program after the download has completed just right click on the Start icon (at bottom left of screen) and select the Explore option.
Chances are that the downloaded program will be in the folder c:\aol 6.0 \download or similar. It'll be the folder you wrote down in Step Five.
Whatever way you choose, when you've download the software, here's the result.
If you want to make downloading faster and avoid having to restart if the line drops then why not take a look at Download Accelerator Plus.
Happy downloading!
