Downloading is a simple process.

When you download, you copy a file from another computer to your computer by way of a wire or even a wireless connection. Compare downloading with the delivery of the morning newspaper. Your paper is delivered with a toss, and it lands on your front step. (If the paper delivery person's aim is good.) Same thing; when you download a program from the Internet, it's delivered to your computer. The toss is performed when you click a link that starts the download process.

Visualize the newspaper flying through the air. Now visualize a stream of ones and zeros speeding over the wires from the server computer to your home or office PC.

The newspaper is a bundle of stories. The program you download is a bundle of files. Each file makes up the entire program you download. A program can be anything - software, an electronic book, or a game.

Compression saves time and space

Files are usually compressed to make them smaller, and to decrease the time it takes to download them. There are different types of compression programs that create compressed files. One of the most popular is the zipped file, or "zip" for short. You'll see a dot and three letters (".zip") after the name of the file; for example, "files.zip".

Before you get started with downloads, go to WinZip for the WinZip file (there are others on the market too). It's a feebie and is necessary for unzipping those compressed files. The installing of WinZip is self explanatory. As an aside, this WinZip can also be used to compress (zip) files for easy sending or carrying on a floppy.

A word about file compression

File compression is like a kind of computer shorthand. When you attempt to compress a file, the compression software that is being used looks for a series of repeating characters or bits in the file. The software then replaces these blocks of repeated characters with symbols or shorter words or phrases, which are called 'tokens'.

For example, it takes less space for a computer file to be structured:

"10101000110101[insert 73 zeroes here]11011010010"

than this...

"1010100011010100000000000000000000000000000000000
000000000000000000000000000000000000011011010010"

When you apply a decompression program to a compressed file, the software reads the file and replaces the tokens with the original data, inflating the file back to its original size.

Downloading links are easy to find

Download prompts come in all shapes and sizes. A download prompt can be a button or it could be a text link. In any case, when you click a download prompt, the first thing your computer asks is, "What you want to do with the file?" What do I do with the download?

Should it be opened from where it lies? Or should it be saved on your computer's hard drive?

If you use the Internet Explorer browser, and click a download link, a dialog box appears with questions about what you want done with the file.

Your options: Run the program, or Save the program to your hard disk. Always choose the Save option. You want the file located on your hard drive, right? The Netscape browser skips the preliminary questions and goes straight to the Save As dialog box.

Making sense of the Save As window

Regardless of which browser you're using, the Save As dialog box or window is ultimately where you'll do your business. This is the key screen you need to be aware of.

Never lose another downloaded file.

Take the following steps to assure you do not misplace the file on your hard drive. You can always move files off of your desktop later during organizational activities. I always suggest downloading to your desktop because the new download is so easy to find there. You cannot lose the file if you follow this tried and true method.

1. Be sure the Save in location says Desktop.

2. Click the drop down button and select Desktop if anything other than Desktop appears in the Save in field. A field is an area in which you can enter text by typing from your keyboard.

3. Personally I use this time and window to created a folder on the desktop and give it the name appropriate for the file I'm downloading. You can remember the name of the file if your write it down on paper. This really depends on how busy your desktop is, something I never had to do.

   Click the create new folder icon following these steps:

   1. Type the name of the folder you want to save your download into. Use a name appropriate to the file you are downloading.
      
   2. Press Enter to save the folder name
      
   3. Click Open to open the newly created folder.
      
   4. Click Save to save your download into the newly created folder.

4. Click the Save button to begin the download procedure. Remember the newspaper delivery illustration above? Well, this is where the paperboy tosses the news. When you click Save, you'll see the dialog box telling you what percentage of the download is completed.

5. When the process finishes, you'll see a new window that confirms the success of your download and displays some particulars for your viewing pleasure.

If you want to open the program and have it installed immediately, click the Open button. The program you've downloaded will be opened and installed. If you click the Open Folder button, then the folder into which you've sent the downloaded file will open.

Click the Close button to send the dialog box to bed. That is, to close it. You can then open the program you just downloaded by locating it on your desktop (if you indeed gave Windows instructions to save it there) and double clicking to start its unzipping, unpacking, or opening routine.

Download to your heart's content

That's really all there is to know about downloading files from the Internet. You simply save the file to a folder location on your computer's hard drive. Then you double click the file to start it.

Big Secret: Nearly every program you download will contain an installation vehicle. That is, the program you are interested in using is packed with another utility that installs the program for you.

That utility program simply loads all the files that make up the program into their proper folders. It also creates entries in the Windows Registry. And that's the reason when deleting programs you should always use the Add/Remove Programs function found in the Windows Control Panel. Note that there are many free programs that can clean out the Registry.

If programs didn't come compressed, and include installation utilities, you would have huge programs with hundreds or even thousands of individual files. The result would be total chaos. And so software developers have adopted a means whereby programs can be distributed with an installer program. Double clicking the file you download starts the installation or unpacking process.

So let's practice now; you want a file, for example, that will remove the ad banner from the ICQ message window. This is assuming you have ICQ; if you don't, then to assume is to make an ASS out of U and ME, as Felix Unger once said in court. Some episode about ticket scalping, if I remember; it was very funny.

We first make sure we have WinZip in our computer; let's assume you have it. Now here we go, inviting you to my site and giving you a chance to copy/paste:

We're going to download from my web site the file named "ICQAteB" (now you can figure out what that stands for), and upload it into your computer; it's as simple as that. Simple? It's a miracle; wouldn't you say so?

Ordinarily it would be a page where you would find the download link. You would click it and start the download process as we outlined above. Here you will start the download process bypassing the actual site; just indicate where you want it to go, create a folder for it, and download.

SMALL DETAILS

Big files take more time to download.
Small files download faster.
A big file is more than 1 megabyte in size.
Small files are less than one megabyte in size.
One megabyte is one million bytes.
A byte is a unit of measure, composed of 8 bits.

The word "bit" is a shortening of the words "binary digit." And therein lies the secret-- a binary digit can be a one or a zero, and nothing else. All of those ones and zeros streaming through cyberspace make a beautiful sight.

One byte can be equated with one letter character, just like the ones that make up these words. So, a typed letter of 100 characters could be "weighed" and would tip the scales at 100 bytes. Said in the reverse, a 100 character document would have a digital weight of 100 bytes.

Since we can't actually weigh programs, we use terminology to express how much space they consume on a hard drive or other storage medium.

Your next masterpiece may have 50 thousand words composed of a million characters. It would consume one megabyte of storage space.