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PPC > Computing Guides > How do I?

Download files

In this Computing Guide, Kai Chandler looks at how to download a file. Part One of Two – downloading from Practical PC’s Aladdin’s Cave of software libraries.

Practical PC staff and readers have been working overtime recently to create a superb set of download libraries containing the best shareware, freeware and other items for you to download. The aim of this Guide is to introduce some of our top downloads and to help you understand how to download and run them – a recurring theme among the many questions that Practical PC receives by email from readers.

Here are some of our top downloads –

AVG Free Antivirus – Freeware

Most computer users are aware of the need to have a competent anti-virus tool. With dozens of new viruses being created every day it’s so easy to pick up a virus from an email attachment, software download or floppy disk. Our pick is AVG 6.0 from Grisoft, Inc. It has all the features you’d expect. It’s comprehensive, has regular downloadable updates, and is absolutely free for home and small office users. It also regularly wins awards for killing lots of viruses! It’s compatible with AOL and ZoneAlarm.

ZoneAlarm – Freeware

It’s theoretically possible for a malevolent hacker to scan IP addresses and gain access to your PC while you are logged on. Yes, it’s very unlikely but Practical PC’s advice is to use a personal firewall. Simple to download and install, and also free of charge, is the excellent ZoneAlarm. Click here to read why you should use it.

Winzip 8 – Shareware

Computer files can be quite large and take ages to download so many software authors use a compression program to create a .zip formatted file. The question is how do you recreate the original program? The answer is to download WinZip.

There’s tons more – just click on the Downloads icon on Practical PC’s opening page.

So how do you install and run the programs? Let’s assume that you are using the current version of the AOL client program – AOL 6.0

There are three steps

Download the program
Install the program
Run the program

To select one of the above programs, click on the icon or to select other programs in our libraries click on the Downloads icon on Practical PC’s opening page (keyword PPC.) You’ll see a brief description of the program and a set of buttons.
Select the button marked “Download now” The Download Manager window appears. Make a note of the folder in which it will save the file eg. download.
Also note the file name eg. Winzip80.exe.
File Transfer will now start. The progress is marked as a percentage in the title bar. You can tick the box to ‘Sign Off After Transfer’ but our experience is that this is not 100% reliable so if you are on a pay per minute package, you should monitor the download periodically.
When download is complete, you’ll see a “Download Confirmation” request. Select Yes to locate the file now. This brings up a list of files in your download folder.
To install a file, just double-click it. Or select it and press Enter. This will start the installation routine for the program which will install it. Then, just follow the instructions.

If you didn’t see the Download Confirmation window then you may wish to install the program manually. In AOL, the location to which downloads are placed, is defined in Customise, Preferences, Downloads. Typically, it’s something akin to C:\AOL 6.0\download. To install the If you didn’t see the Download Confirmation window then you may wish to install the program manually. In AOL, the location to which downloads are placed, is defined in Customise, Preferences, Downloads. Typically, it’s something akin to C:\AOL 6.0\download. To install the program, right-click on Start then select Explore. This starts Windows Explorer. Scroll until you find the appropriate folder, subfolder and file. As above, to install the file, just double-click it. Or select it and press Enter.

How do I know if it’s installed successfully?

Programs such as AVG antivirus and ZoneAlarm which need to run in the background start automatically with Windows. Often, these place an icon in the tool bar at the bottom right corner of the screen to show that the program is running. An example of one that does this is ZoneAlarm.

Most programs create an entry in the program list (Start | Programs) or on the desktop (which is the Windows screen.)

Note that sometimes you have to restart Windows to complete the installation of the program.

Watch out for Part Two which looks at how to download files from the Internet.

Kai Chandler