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Downloading - software basic information series

The 'Download' is the electronic transmission of software from a computer on the internet 'down' to your computer.

Downloading software and freeware programs or free trials can be fun and educational - such exploration often leads to discovering handy new ways to utilize your computer; plus, like a birthday present, software is fun to open and 'see what you got'.

In fact much software is sold on this very basis - a user gets to try the software and if he likes it, he can buy it; thus the phrase 'try before you buy'. Such software is typically referred to as 'Shareware', offering usually a 30 day free trial.

Now, in this 'modern era' of computing one might assume that all software would sport a fast and easy download; and indeed, most software and freeware is easy to download - though on occasion, a user may be required to enter an email address so to obtain an activation code or gain access to the download link.

Rarely and inexplicably, one can click to 'download', only to be launched elsewhere in cyberspace. Sometimes a download simply may not start or may start and stall. To minimize hassles a user would best navigate to the original authoring site for the software if possible - where one is most likely to find a straightforward quality download.

If one is still encountering problems with a download you may want to try it later - any software server can have a bad day. Hopefully those in charge get rid of servers that have too many "bad days". Continuous problems reflect badly on server and company management. Generally speaking, if simply obtaining the software is problematic, one can suspect that the software itself may prove disappointing.

Simply, good software should be fast and easy to download.

Downloading a file is easy, here's how:

1 click on the download link - for example you may like to download Firefox
2 a dialog box will pop up, you can click to 'Run' or 'Save' the file
3 if you click to save the file, make sure you save it where you can find it, such as to the 'Desktop'
4 once the download is complete you'll be presented with a dialog box, select to 'Run' the application
5 optionally if the download is in a special 'zip' file, select to 'Open' then doubleclick on the '.exe' file
6 after that you simply follow instructions to carry through the installation of the software. See Installation.

 

 Helpful: Simplified Computer and Internet Glossary