"The Important Stuff"

If this is the first time you've used our downloads, you now can see a skinny information bar at the top of the page. Click it, and select "Install ActiveX Control" from the dropdown menu. Then, click "Install" when you see the new dialog box appear. This does not collect info about you or hurt your machine.

Why do I need this? This tiny control-program is only installed ONCE on a given machine, and is there to assist with all future downloads. It allows you to download a batch of several files at once, save them wherever you wish, AND keeps track of the download progress. If your internet connection glitches, the download will *automatically restart* (after a couple of minutes) from where it left off, once the internet connection is restored, presuming that your computer remains powered on. This is a very important feature, since these are BIG files that may take several hours to download if you have a relatively slow internet connection.


Additional Info

Worst-case scenario: If the transfer fails because your computer shut down from a power-outage, there may be a temporary file left on your machine - but the next time you start the download, it automatically cleans up what was left from the aborted transfer. If you tend to get hit by electric power outages more often than normal, we recommend that you purchase a battery-backup UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) that has at least 1500VA capacity so that the computer AND your modem AND router can remain powered-up for several hours when the power goes out. Start the download before going to bed, and TURN OFF the monitor during that process, so that the UPS would not have to feed it if a power outage hits.

Gotta-shut-down scenario: If you are in the midst of a long download session, but for some reason you must interrupt it and turn off your computer a while, then if you want to resume the download from where you left off, be sure to HIBERNATE your machine rather than doing a simple shutdown. You can set this up from Control Panel > Power Options > Hibernate Tab. There will be a button on your keyboard somewhere that activates hibernation (sometimes called "sleep"). It takes a complete "RAM snapshot" of what is going on, so that the next time you start the computer, it resumes exactly where it left off (it may take a few minutes after restart for the download to auto-resume).