Planning Ahead

Before downloading from the Internet, there are some steps you should take to organize your files.

The Internet is continuously changing.
There are improvements in browsers, changes in specifications, and new add-ons coming about daily.
If you wanted to keep on top of these new changes, you would find yourself downloading a huge number of files, and thus creating a file management nightmare on your hard drive.
I recommend developing a structure in which you will organize your files.

Personally, I start out with a directory called download. After that I try to categorize my download into categories and subcategories until I get to the name of the file I am going to download. For Example, see the picture to the right:

As you can see, I have a number of different categories and subcategories. It is now easy to scan through my download directory and delete outdated and unneeded programs.


Essential Software

Before downloading anything, there are two pieces of software that you should have:

  1. A virus protection program
  2. An Unzipping utility

If you don't have these utilities, you can download them. I recommend (Mcafee Virus Protection) and Winzip unzipping utility. Follow the steps below to download install these programs.

Configuring Winzip




Winzip can be configured in a number of different ways.

I recommend different settings from the default if you use the download directory structure.

When first installing winzip, I would recommend the Standard configuration rather than using the wizards.

I would also change the default directory settings within Winzip.

I would change the "Default Extract Directory" to "Open Archive Directory". This way you can extract files into your temporary download directory structure, and later get rid of all the files (the downloaded zip file along with the extracted files).

See the following:

Determining how to handle the downloaded file

Before downloading your file, you should look at the file name and file type of the file you are going to download. You can download programs, browser add-ons, graphics, text files, and just about anything else you can think of. Depending upon what type of file you are downloading, you will handle the files differently. Below, we will cover different techniques depending upon the file type.

Graphic files Text files and other non-program files

More or less, if you find it on the Internet, it can be downloaded.









For example, if you are surfing around and come across a picture of your favorite pet. You may want to download this graphic for your desktop, or maybe you will want to edit it in your favorite graphics editor.

Simply click on the picture with your RIGHT mouse button, select "Save Picture As", Pick the proper directory to save the file into, and save the picture to your hard drive.

Program Files

Usually when you want to download something off the Internet, you will be downloading a program file. In general, there are 4 types of program files you will download:

  1. An executable (.exe) program that runs without any setup (not very common)
  2. An executable in which the (.exe) file you download expands out to the program you will ultimately run. (relatively common)
  3. An executable in which the (.exe) file you download must be run to create the setup program (very comon)
  4. A zipped up file (.zip) in which the program runs directly after being unzipped (not too common)
  5. A zipped up file (.zip) in which the setup program must be unzipped (very common)

For starters determine which category your program lies in. This can usually be accomplished by looking at the file name, and maybe reading any documentation that goes with the program.

Case 1)

In Case 1, you will be downloading a program that ends in .exe, it will be a standalone program that does not require any other files to run. This type of file is very uncommon… but still out there. In this case you will probably not want to download under your download directory, but instead, create a directory under your "program files" directory since this is the actual application you are downloading, not the setup program. After you have downloaded the program, you are ready to run it. Simply double click on the program, and it should start running.

Case 2)

In Case 2, the program you are downloading has been compressed into 1 single file for downloading purposes. After you have downloaded the single file, you will run that file which will expand into the full up program (usually through a setup program). For this type of program, you will want to download under the download structure mentioned above. After you have downloaded the program, you must run it. At that point, you will be prompted on how to set up your new program. After you have finished installing your new program, you can get rid of the downloaded part of the program. After all, it is just wasting dead disk space.

Case3)

Case 3 is similar to Case 2, except that in case three you will need to perform an extra step. In case 3, the (.exe) file you download will expand out to a number of files when you run that program. At this point, you must look for a file named setup.exe or install.exe. You must then manually run that setup or installation program to install the program you want.

Case 4)

Both Case 4 and Case 5 will have a (.zip) extension on the file you are going to download. They require that you have downloaded a program that will unzip your program file (remember winzip above). After downloading your program file to the proper directory, simply double click on your new downloaded, and winzip will automatically open up so that you can extract out the program files. In case 4, you will be directly extracting the program file (there is no setup or install program). Therefore, you will want to extract to a directory other than the default. Most programs run out of their own directory as a subdirectory or "Program Files" (windows '95), or right of the root (regular windows). I would recommend creating this directory, then extracting to this directory rather than the default (current extract directory). Now your program is ready to run by simply double clicking on it.

Case 5)
This is a very common process for downloading program files. Under this scenario you will download a zipped up file that contains the setup program for your program. Upon downloading this file into your temporary directory structure (under the download directory), you can simply double click on your downloaded .zip file and winzip will automatically open up. At this time you can simply hit the Install button in winzip, and your program will be automatically set up. See diagram.

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