There are several ways to acquire new programs for your computer. One is to go to the store and buy the program. Another is to order a program online and have it sent to you by mail. The third option, downloading and installing the program on the spot, is what this article is all about. Before you read any further, let me remind you that you should never believe anything you get in junk e-mail messages or pop-up ads. Especially if they’re offering programs to fix some imaginary problem with your computer. Try to stick with reputable software companies (like Microsoft, Adobe, Corel, and so forth). Also, consider going to download sites like www.download.com and www.tucows.com and read what others are saying about a program before you download and install it.

Before You Install a Program

When you install new hardware or software, there’s always a slight risk that the product won’t be 100 percent compatible with everything else that’s in your computer. Unfortunately, you won’t know if there’s a problem until after you install the program. By then, the installation procedure has already made some sweeping changes to your system.

Windows Vista does a good job of keeping track of changes to your system and giving you a fallback position. But to play it extra safe, consider manually creating a restore point before you install new software. For more information, see “Using System Protection” in Article 33.

If the new program causes any problems, you can uninstall (remove) the program. Then go back into System Protection and return your computer to the restore point that you created just before installing the program. That will erase all changes made by the new program, and things will be just as they were before you installed the new program.

To Run or to Save?

Programs are different from documents in several ways. A document is just data that a program can use. Examples of documents include typed text, pictures, music, and video. Programs, on the other hand, contain executable code, instructions that tell the computer what to do. Unlike documents, programs need to be installed before you can use them. Among other things, the installation process adds an icon to your All Programs menu, which you can click to run the installed program. When you download a program, you’ll usually be given the option to Save the program, or to Run (or Open) the program. The difference is as follows:

- Save: Choosing Save copies the program’s installation file to a folder on your hard disk, but doesn’t install the program. You must install the program yourself before you can use it.

- Run (or Open): Choosing Run or Open downloads and installs the program in one fell swoop.

You don’t need to go through an extra installation step. Whether you choose Save or Run is entirely up to you. Obviously, Run offers the convenience of not having to go through the extra installation step. After the download is completed, you should be able to start the program from your All Programs menu. On the other hand, choosing Save puts a copy of the installation program into a folder on your hard disk. If you ever need to re-install the program due to some mishap, you can do so right from the downloaded installation program.

Read the instructions

The procedures in this article are general and apply to most programs. But “most programs” isn’t the same as “every program ever created.” Before you download and install a program, you should check the site from which you’re downloading the program for specific instructions. Better to spend five minutes reviewing those instructions before you download than to spend five hours figuring out why the download didn’t work after the fact.

Only administrators can install programs

Finally, keep in mind installing programs requires administrative privileges in Windows Vista. You’ll need to know the password for an administrative account on your system in order to install any program.

Downloading Programs

Here I’ll go through the typical procedure for downloading and installing a program. I’ll use Microsoft’s Calculator Plus as an example. It’s a great little program that everyone can use, and is 100 percent safe. But do keep in mind that this is an example. There are many thousands of programs you can download and install. And you should always refer to the download instructions for any program you install for information that’s specific to that program.

Download and install a program

The next step is to get to the link that launches the program download. Obviously, where you find that link depends on the program you’re downloading. For this example I went to http://download. microsoft.com and searched for Calculator Plus. Then I clicked the Microsoft Calculator Plus link. Moving right along, here are the steps to perform the download from the Web page shown in the example:

1. Click the Download Calculator Plus link. You’re taken to another page with still more information about the program.

2. Click Continue and then click Download on the next page that opens.

3. You see the standard Security Warning. If that box gets covered by your browser, click the taskbar button that shows 0% of CalcPlus.

4. Now you have to decide for yourself if you just want to install the program, or save it and install it later. Because this program would be easy to find in the future, click Run for this example.

5. You see another security warning about running the program. Click Run to proceed.

6. Next you’re taken to some setup instructions. Normally you’d read those. But for this example you can just click Next.

7. Typically you’ll need to accept the license agreement, which basically says you can use the program, but you can’t sell it to other people, give it away, and so forth. Click I agree and click Next.

8. The next page asks where you want to install the program. You should always accept the suggested path unless you really know what you’re doing and have some good reason for choosing some other folder.

9. This program also asks if you want to install the program so that it’s accessible only from your user account, or everyone’s user account. For this example you can choose Everyone.

10. Click Next.

11. If you’re not logged in to an administrative user account, you’ll be prompted for an administrative password. Type that password and click Submit.

12. The program installs and you get some feedback to that effect. Click Close.

Installing a program is not the same as running it. So you may not see the program at this point. To run a program, you use the Start menu. In the case of Calculator Plus, click the Start button, choose All Programs, and then click the Microsoft Calculator Plus folder. Click that icon, and the program will start.