ZIP Files
These files are compressed into one package to make downloading faster and easier. ZIP files are both PC and Macintosh compatible, but you need to have a program installed on your computer to "unzip" the files and save them to your hard drive.
EXE Files
Just like ZIP files, these are files compressed into one package for your convenience. EXE files don't require any additional software to "unzip", but they are only PC-compatible. Just save the EXE file to your hard drive and doubleclick on the filename to unzip the Word documents inside.
After you have pressed "Download Now" …
Every Web browser will be slightly different, but, generally, the download starts when you get a dialog box that asks what you want to do with the file. Choose "Save the file to disk." This saves the file to your hard drive. You will then be given another dialog box asking where you want to save the file. Usually, the browser will already have a folder in mind, and the filename will already be filled in. You can either accept these defaults, or you can change them.
Before you click "Okay" to save the file to your disk, you should be aware of two important things.
First, you will have to remember where the file is located and what it is called. If you accept the browser's defaults and let the program choose where to put the file and what to name it you should make a note of the name and location of the file in order to find it later.
Second, if you do rename the file, do not rename the extension. The three letters that follow the period in a file name are the extension. The computer uses these three letters to determine the type of file that it is working with. Feel free to rename the file (the name in front of the period) anything you like. However, you must keep the extension the same as the name suggested by the computer or you will confuse the computer when it comes time to open the file.
To open your ZIP or EXE file, now all you need to do is find the folder you saved to your hard drive and doubleclick on it. If you downloaded the ZIP file this should open up your WinZIP or StuffIt application so you can uncompress the archive. If you downloaded the EXE file doubleclicking should automatically begin the unzipping process for you.