Tips and Tricks for downloading form Internet

R K Gupta

Downloading means transferring files from a remote computer to your computer. These files could be anything -- text files, pictures, music files, videos, or software.

 

Downloading from the Internet

•Finding the Software

•Downloading the Software

•Installing the Software

•Running the Software

•Registering Shareware

Steps in downloading

What kinds of programs are available?

Demo to try out a commercial programbefore buying

Shareware to try out an inexpensive programbefore buying it

Freeware you don't need to buy it

Upgrades new versions of program areavailable

Drivers little programs that control thehardware

What do the file extensions mean? txt text document, can be opened by any word processor. No

formatting is retained.

rtf Rich text files can usually be opened by any word processorretaining much of the formatting.

doc Microsoft Word document

pdf portable document files can be downloaded to either a Mac to aPC. PDF files always look the way the author intended regardlessof the computer used to view them.

zip compressed PC files

exe executable file format or self extracting file

mov, mpg,avi, swf

movie/animation file formats

wav, midi,au, mp3

sound files

jpeg, gif , tiff graphic file formats (Don’t use bmp format)

Essential Required Pluggins/Software

WinZip WinZip Home Page (required todecompress zipped files i.e zipfiles)

Adobe Acorbat Adobe Acrobat Free Reader (lets youread PDF files)

Shockwave &Flash

Macromedia Shockwave and FlashDownload Centre

Quicktime Apple - Products - QuickTime

Some sites to find reputable software

http://www.softpile.com/http://www.tucows.com/http://www.simtel.net/http://www.zdnet.com/http://www.pcworld.com/

•Analyze your topic to decide where to begin

•Select Simple keywords

•Usually many are better than just one

•Use search engines like

•www.google.com

•www.altavista.com

•http://www.infoseek.com/

•http://www.lycos.com/

Search Techniques

Refining your search

Matching exact case

Use “+” sign or Boolean “AND” for Including and

“-” sign or Boolean “NOT” for Including

Use combinations

When a simple search engine search fails.

1. Widen your search use “Meta” search engines like

•Dogpile: http://www.dogpile.com/

•Metacrawler: http://www.metacrawler.com/

2. Plain English questions

3. Use reference sites

•LibrarySpot (http://www.libraryspot.com/)

4.Search discussion groups

5.Take part in mailing lists

•Liszt (http://www.liszt.com/)

•Tile.net (http://tile.net/lists/)

7.Ask a real person!

Tips for Finding Software

1. Check your own ISP

2. Visit vendors' Web sites

3. Search shareware sites

4. Search freeware sites

5. Read software reviews

6. Look for local mirrors

7. Buy computing magazines

Three fundamental facts:

•Nothing is guaranteed.

•Security is a pain in the neck.

•The final decision is yours.

1.Use a virus scanner

Norton AntiVirus, from Symantec (http://www.symantec.com/)

McAfee Virus Scan (http://www.mcafee.com/)

2. Update virus definitions regularly

•The day you install your virus scanner, it's obsolete!

As more viruses are created every day.

•Update your virus scanner regularly - at least once a month.

Tips for Safer Downloads

•Download from well-known Web sites only

•Delete executable e-mail attachments from unknown sources

•Take regular backups

•Plan your recovery strategy