File Downloading 101 Part 2

You've read Part 1 in which we created a folder to store your downloaded files. Now it's time to get down to the nitty gritty of the actual download process.

To start with, we need something to download! A good starting program to download is Winzip, a program that let's you "unzip" compressed files. You will commonly come across zipped files when downloading. Programs are compressed (zipped) so that they shrink in size, and therefore download much faster. Once the file is downloaded to your computer, you uncompress it (unzip) with Winzip.

Click here to start downloading Winzip.

Your browser will pop open a window asking what you would like to do with the file you are about to download. You want to make sure you have selected "Save it to disk" if you are using Internet Explorer, or "Save File" if you are using Netscape.

*Important! Be sure to remember the file name of the file you are downloading so you can find it later. While this will be the first program in there it will be easy to find. But further down the road, the folder can get crowded and it's hard to tell what you've just downloaded.

The window will then ask you where you want to save it. A-ha! We have a place to save it! We just created a folder especially for it, remember? Click on the Temp folder we just created.

The file is now being downloaded onto your computer. Be patient, it may take awhile depending on the speed of your Internet connection.

Once the file has finished downloading, you need to install it. Click on the Start button, go to Programs, and click on Windows Explorer. Click on the “C” drive to make sure you are in the right place, and find our folder called "Temp". Click on the file you just downloaded, and the install program will execute and walk you through the installation.

Congratulations, you've just downloaded your first program! Now that you're a Pro, be sure to check out Downloads.com, a shareware site that has lots of nifty things to download.