Training Aids

Training Aids

Software

These are links to pages where you can download software requested by various member of the PWAC Internet Course. I haven't made the links directly to software downloads which automatically begin to FTP - for a couple of reasons.
  1. First, you might not want to have software automatically start FTP'ing to your machine until you know more about it.
  2. Second, not everyone is using the same operating systems, this way the choice of which version (Win 3.x, Win95, Mac etc.) is left up to you.
Shortcuts to: Step 1 (virus checkers), 2 (Netscape & FTP programs), 3 (decompression programs)
plus links to Email & Bookmark Software, Audio-Visual Software and More Software Sites

Download Instructions

Whether you are using Netscape, Internet Explorer, another web browser, a separate FTP client or a commercial service like Compuserve, the process is basically the same.
  1. Find the file you want to download highlighted as a link, then click (or double-click) on its name.
  2. Depending on how your have your software configured and what method you are using, you may be prompted for a directory into which to download the file. Otherwise, a default directory will be used.
  3. Then, a download information window should open to display things like the file size, number of bytes transferred and how many minutes are left in the download process, as well as the name of the file you are downloading and the directory into which it is being saved.
  4. If you don't see such an information window or if the information in that window isn't regulary changing (i.e. number of bytes transferred and time remaining), you are not downloading the file and you should start the process over.

NOTE: The type of software you can run is determined by the type of TCP/IP software you are using, not just by the kind of operating system you have. For example, even though you are running Win95, if you are not running a 32 bit TCP/IP client, any Win95 Internet applications you download will not work online.

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Step One

First, download a good virus checker if you don't already have one.

  • Virus Scan from Mcafee is available for evaluation on a number of platforms.
    ( It can be purchase over the Net or in stores for a list price of $65.00 U.S.)
  • Norton Anti-Virus from Symantec offers demo downloads for Win95 and NT versions
    (Sells for $99.99 CDN with a $55.00 CDN rebate coupon. Thanks to Curt for discount info !)
  • Thunderbyte Anti-Virus This is made by a local firm and has received very good reviews.

    (All these programs will checks for viruses before they install themselves, to deal with the chicken and egg issue.)

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    Step Two

  • Once you have a virus checker installed, you might want to make sure you have the latest version of Netscape. Earlier versions have slower FTP clients, which will make download other software take longer. There are many sites for Netscape software.
    1. The easiest to reach is Netscape's own. Just click on the Software button bar right below the URL location indicator on your current version of Netscape and select Get Latest Version to go directly to the Netscape FTP Site .
    2. A closer site that might provide faster downloading is the Netscape archive at the McGill University Software Mirror.
    3. If you want to use Netscape to view offline HTML files you've downloaded, you need to have the file mozock.dll in the same directory as you have Netscape. It's a small file which you can download from the Tucows Utility Page. It's a dummy TCP/IP connection that "fools" Netscape into thinking it's online.
    4. There are also shareware utilities which will sort through and display the contents of your browser's cache.
      For Windows 95, those include Netscape Cache Explorer and Microsoft Explorer Cache Explorer
      For Win 3.x, try Net Road
    An alternative to using a browser like Netscape for FTP is an FTP client like:

  • WS-FTP on the Tucows FTP pages. Select the default - (Win 95) or 16 bit (Win 3.x) version.

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    Step Three

     A lot of downloadable software comes in a compressed format to save downloading time. Some of this software is self-extracting (has an .exe file extension), such as the Pegasus email program. The rest must be extracted using special software. You probably should download one of these programs now.

  • . WinZip is a popular program for the common ZIP (.zip file extension) format. You should download a copy from Tucows Compression Utilities page. Chose either Win 95 or Win 3.x version. (WinZip can be linked to McAfee for automatic virus checking of .zip files.)
  • Stuffit is another good decompression program, and is available for both Macintosh and Windows.

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    Step Four

    Download the software you want!

    Email & Bookmark Software

  • Pegasus Emaill allows you to automatically sort your mail. You can find the Pegasus software on the Tucows Email page. Select the default - (Win 95) or the Win 3.x version.
  • Digest Reader allows you to subscribe to a single daily digest of messages from a ListServ, which you can save as file, then browse through as individual messages You can get a copy from Xiaomu Niu's Email page.
    NOTE: Because the reader is written in Visual Basic programming language, you must also download vbrun300.dll from the SimTel DLL page if you don't already have it. This allows Visual Basic programs to run in Windows 3.x or Win95. Scroll down to vbrun300.zip, then click the filename to download. Once it's downloaded, unzipped and virus scanned, put this file in your C:\Windows\System\ sub directory.
  • Netscape Smartmarks, a more advance version of the bookmark sorting program that comes with Netscape, can be downloaded from here.

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    Audio/Visual Software
  • Cool Edit is a good addition to the basic sound player with comes with Netscape. You can find it on the Tucows Audio page. Select the default - (Win 95) or the Win 3.x version.
  • There are a variety of programs to play live Internet audio which can be found at my audio page.
  • Net Toob, which plays a variety of Internet video file formats, can be downloaded from Tucows Movie Viewers page. Available only in Win 3.x but runs just fine under Win95.
  • VDO Live Video from the VDO site allows video to be watched as it downloads. (used by CBC Newsworld.)

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    Additional Sites

     You can also find many more links on my main software page, which includes such sites as:
  • The Ultimate Software Collection from Tucows - an excellent site - with an Ottawa and an Ontario mirror.
  • Tucows includes a good selection of Apple Software.
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