Save or Open…What To Do With That Download
From time to time, you may want to download a file from the Internet, whether for a new program, free report or an update. When you click on the file you want to download in Internet Explorer, you most likely encounter a prompt to do one of the following: <Open> the file or <Save> it. So, which do you choose?
If you simply want to access a file and aren’t concerned about saving the ‘Setup files’ so you can view it again in the future, then choose the ‘Open from this location…’ option. The program will download and begin “setup” as soon as it’s done. However, if you wish to save a copy so you can have unlimited access to the file from your computer, then you will want to choose ‘Save the file…’ and place it on your hard drive for future use. If your are downloading a book, graphic file or the like then you probably will want to save the file for future viewing so choose save in this case.
Once the file has completed downloading, go to the location on your hard drive, where you saved it, and double-click on the file. Setup will start. But wait, I didn’t notice where the file was saved, do I need to download it again? Of course not, it’s safely stored on your computer it’s just a matter of figuring out where. Click on the START menu, then SEARCH and type a portion of the filename to find it’s location. If the file has a cryptic name that you just can’t remember, here’s a quick trick. Start the download again and this time notice where it will be saved to and click CANCEL. Now, just open the same folder and your file will be there waiting for you.
To avoid all this confusion in the future, one of the best tricks I can teach you is to save every file on your desktop so that you can easily preview it. Then after you install the program you can delete the file or move it to an archive folder if you will be keeping it for future use. The desktop is your friend, use it to store you recent downloads and you’ll work much faster.
Technology is my passion, computers are part of our everyday lives and I want to help you bridge the gap by offering you short articles and blurbs in the most recent computer related topics.