Blumenthal Software

How to Download

Definition: The term downloading is used to describe the copying of a file from one computer to another. When you copy from another computer to your own, it is downloading. If you were to copy from your computer to another then it would be uploading. Up and down describe the direction of the copy process.

The best way to describe the process would be by example. The following example uses Internet Explorer (IE) to download the pbsw2dem.exe file from the blumenthalsoftware website to your own computer. If you wish instead to download some other file (e.g. pbsw2upp.exe, the pbsw2 update), you can use the exact same instructions, but substitute the other file name in the example below.

  1. Print out this page by clicking the printer icon on your browser (because the next thing you do will make this page disappear).
  2. You must first get to the download site, the page that has the link to the file you wish to copy. If you are not at the download page, then click on www.blumenthalsoftware.com to open its home page; scroll down a little until you see Downloads and click on that.
  3. You will then see the PBS Billing Software Downloads page. The first paragraph has the update's download link (it says to "click here" for the update). Since we are using the demo for this example, you will need to look just a little further down the page to where it says "To download the pbsw2 DEMO click here."
  4. To start the download, click on the word here, which is the demo's download link.
  5. When you click on that link, a standard Internet Explorer File Download dialog box opens. You are informed that you have chosen to download a file from the BlumenthalSoftware location, and then it gives you the name and source of the file, in this case: pbsw2dem.EXE from www.blumenthalsoftware.com. There are two radio buttons below, giving you the options of either running the program from this site, or saving it to disk. You will always choose to Save to Disk; that is usually checked for you. You then click on the OK button, and the Save as dialog opens. (Note that recent versions of IE may also warn about the content of the download file, and may have a checkbox asking if you should "always trust" content from wherever you are downloading. Ignore the warning in this case, and never check the "always trust" button.)
  6. The Save as dialog is a Windows dialog that enables you to select the place on your hard drive where a file is to be placed, and what name you are going to give it. You will find the same dialog popping up in your word processor. You must indicate where this file is to go. I strongly recommend a folder named Downloads, which you should keep on the C: drive, off the root folder. If you already have such a folder, you can skip step 5.
  7. How to create a Downloads folder in the c:\ root directory. The Save as dialog varies somewhat from one Windows Operating System to the next, but they all do have a Save in combobox at the top, which provides a tree view of the folders on your hard drive. More important, they also have navigation buttons to the right of the Save in box; note that the buttons have flyover help, so that if your mouse rests on them, you will see a bubble explaining their function. The first button is a left pointing arrow that lets you return to the last folder visited; ignore this. The next button is a folder with an arrow on it; this gets you "up" one folder level in the Save in box; if you keep on clicking this button you will get to the C: root directory, then to My Computer, and then to Desktop. You want to be in the C: root directory, which is also called Local Disk C:. Once there, you can click the next button on the right, which is a folder with some rays coming out of the upper right corner; this is the New Folder button. Click that button, and a new folder in the C: drive will be created, named New Folder. Rename that folder by typing in Downloads, and you will now have a Downloads folder in the root directory, and you will still be in the Save As dialog.
  8. Click the Save in box's down button and you will see the tree view of the hard disk. Click on Local Disk (C:) and then on Downloads to get the Downloads folder into the Save in box. Then click Save and the download will actually begin.
  9. During the download you will see a dialog box informing you as to the progress being made. If this dialog box has a checkbox : Close this dialog box when download is completed, then make sure to uncheck it, so that you will be able to proceed in step 10, below. The download should take several minutes even with a fast connection; pbsw2dem.exe is over eight megabytes in size.
  10. At the end of the download you will get a message that the download is complete, and the Open button, previously grayed out, will now be active. Click Open to use the file you have downloaded. If for some reason, you have downloaded the file (pbsw2dem.exe in the example) and delayed executing it, you can always find the file by going to the Start button, Find Files, and then doubleclick the file when you find it (it should, of course, be in the Downloads folder). When you open or execute the file, the demo installation will begin.

AOL problems: AOL tends to time out and log off users who are only using AOL for Internet activity, such as a download. It appears to the AOL server that you are idle, and it will log you off. To circumvent this, stay at your computer and click in an AOL chat room, or Channel every few minutes. This is often the only way to keep AOL going during a download. (the above is the advice from the US Govt Dept of Energy webpage which has additional suggestions and comments about AOL problems)..

Corrupted Download: Sometimes a download will not complete; you will get a partial file. AOL does this a lot. When you try to execute the file, you will get a "Corrupted Download" error. If you try to download again, it will download very quickly; that is a clue that it is not downloading again, it's simply checking the Windows cache, finds the same file name there, and says DONE! But of course, then you get the same Corrupted error. You have a few choices. One is to try downloading to a different folder, or better yet, change the name of the download file. Or else, you can try to delete the cache: go into internet explorer, tools, internet options, and under temporary internet files, hit delete files.  This makes explorer get the file from the website again.  .

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If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please send email to info@blumenthalsoftware.com