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Plug-Ins

Important Downloads

06/08/06

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The Internet Traffic Report monitors the flow of data around the world. It then displays a value between zero and 100. Higher values indicate faster and more reliable connections.

Plug-ins

Plug-ins are software add-ons that enhance the capabilities of a web browser. A plugin may allow your web browser to watch Internet movies and animation, hear sound and music, read special Adobe documents, play online games, and do 3-D interaction. Software companies are developing plug-ins at an astonishing rate, it is recommended to always use the lastest versions.

What Plug-ins should I have?

Although new plug-in software is released every week, there are key, essential plug-ins and add-on software that will serve you 99% of the time:

Adobe Acrobat Reader (for .pdf files)
Java Virtual Machine (JVM to run Java applets)
Macromedia Flash Player (to run .swf movies)
Macromedia Shockwave Player (to run heavy-duty .swf movies)
Real Audio Player (to listen to .ram files)
Apple Quicktime (to see 3d Virtual Reality schematics)
Windows Media Player (to run a variety of movies and music formats)
Windows WinAmp (to play downloaded .mp3 and .wav files)

How do I know if I need a plug-in?

80% of the time, the plug-ins will find you! This means that most web pages requiring plug-in software will alert you if the particular plug-in is missing from your computer. The browser will then either present you with a link to, or take you directly to the webpage where the needed plug-in can be found and installed from.

If you have the most current version of the browser, some plug-ins will be already built-in.

The "hard way" of finding the plug-ins is to manually search for them via the search engines such as Google, MSN, Yahoo, etc. In most cases you will not need to do that. Do be careful when downloading plug-ins though. Some contain so-called "Spyware" (which will be covered in a separate article) and can be detrimental to your computer's health.

How do I install plug-ins?

When you visit a website that has some "extras" to present to you, you will be informed that the browser needs you to install something.
You will then be given directions on what to do to complete the installation. In most cases, these installations are very easy and consist of you clicking on a button, or two. Typically, you might be asked to accept the "license agreement", or click a "Next" or an "OK" button once or twice, and the installation will be underway.

Sometimes, however, you might be asked if you want to proceed with the immediate installation, or save the installer file somewhere on your computer, for installation at a later time. The recommended course of action would be to save the file, especially if it is rather large, and your connection is via 56K (or less) modem. The most common place to save the installer file is on your Desktop; it will be easy to find, you will only need it once, and you can delete it afterwards. It is also a good idea to reboot the computer after installing anything.