Posted by Ion Saliu on October 01, 2000.
• My website has just received visitors referred to by MSN, specifically the download help page:
http://computingcentral.msn.com/help/howtodownload.asp - "computingcentral.msn.com/help/howtodownload.asp" (they certainly change addresses often, don't they?)
I was curious enough and visited the link. Good site, with tons of software to download.
To my surprise, MSN download help page is much like my Software Download page (see footer).
I am not posting this for the purpose of bragging. In fact, I want to take another shot at all those accusing me or complaining that information at this website is poor; that visitors cannot find clear info on how to download, or install, or run my software.
Now, I can show them proof to the contrary. Moreover, the help facilities on my site are even more comprehensive and detailed than the help offered by billion-dollar entities. By the way, MSN has a typo: C:/Download, instead of C:\Download…
The morale: Take a deep breath, then take your time and read everything at this website. There is a high probability you will find meaningful answers.
Ion Saliu
• You may need to right-click on the link if you are a PC user, then select the appropriate option from the Pop-up menu ( Save Target As). PC users can also click or double-click on a link to start the downloading.
• You will download the files to your local drive. In the "Download" dialog box, check the option "Save this file to disk". Preferably, you already created a folder named Download on your hard drive. If not, open Windows Explorer and select drive C: (highlight it). Open the "File" menu and select "New", then "Folder". Type "Download" over "New Folder" and press "Enter".
• Then, any time you download a file it will be saved to C:\Download.
• There is one more step. Files with the .ZIP extension need to be decompressed. Use for the task a popular utility such as PKUnzip, or WinZip. These applications are also offered as shareware. It is even better if there is another folder on your drive: C:\Unzip. You will decompress all your .ZIP files from C:\Download to C:\Unzip.
• There is another type of compressed files: self-extracting. They have the .EXE extension and do not need an unzipping utility. Double-click the self-extracting file. Choose C:\UNZIP as the destination directory to decompress it.
• Nota bene! You should always delete all the old files in C:\UNZIP before decompressing (unzipping) the newest downloaded file. Download one zipped (compressed) package at a time, unzip it, and then install it. Finally, clean up the C:\UNZIP folder. Then you go back to C:\DOWNLOAD and work with another compressed package, etc.
• The final step is to install the application. In Windows Explorer go to the folder C:\Unzip. Look for files named Setup. exe or, more rarely, Install.exe (Install.bat even more rarely). Click on such a file to start the installation (setup) process.
• After you downloaded, unzipped, and installed the programs, make sure everything works fine. If everything works as expected, go back to your download and unzip folders and delete all the files. Otherwise, those folders get really messy after a while.
• A small percentage of the LotWon software users encounter difficulties in the basic areas: 1) downloading; 2) installing; 3) creating the data files.
The solutions are extremely simple, if a minimum of computer knowledge is involved. The user needs to read more thoroughly the "Help" page, the "What's New" page and the comprehensive info on "FTP Downloads".
• If the problems persist, may I recommend the user read primer books on computers and DOS? If the problems still persist, please do not torture yourself. LotWon is simply not for you. Simply forget about LotWon! Delete it and my name from your system! Please do not post on this BBS asking for help in the basic areas! I delete such messages frequently. I want to keep this message board easy to navigate and find useful info. Please do not spam, either – it's illegal!
Socrates Home 
Search 
Download Free Software 
Random Generator, Probability Calculator 
New Writings, Pages 
Sitemap, Content