Tool Box

Tool Box

This Tool Box provides the basic instructions to use these files. Additional information is available from the vendors of the players or other tools.

Real Player

Shockwave Flash

Java

Real Player

Plays Real Audio and Real Video files. Streaming feature saves the wait of pre-downloading files. The player is available across many platforms as a browser-based plugin or helper.

Available from Real Networks on their download page. you can also download real alternative a free real player here .

General instructions:

Once the player is installed on your system, simply clicking the link from your browser should begin the automatic process of starting the player and accessing and playing the file.

Macromedia Shockwave Flash

Plays Shockwave Flash multimedia files.

Available from Macromedia on their download page.

General instructions:

Once the player is installed on your system, your browser should automatically use the player when appropriate.

AVI Movies (.AVI)

Audio Video Interleaved format file for video/audio playback under Windows.

AVI players are standard on Microsoft Windows systems. Alternative players are widely available both as standalone tools or browser helpers or plugins. Files generally have an .AVI extension.

General instructions:

If an AVI player is available on your system, and your browser is configured to use it, simply clicking the link from your browser should begin the automatic process of accessing the file and perhaps starting the AVI player and playing the file.

AVI files can be saved and played by your AVI player separately from your browser.

Adobe Acrobat (.PDF)

Displays Adobe Acrobat documents. These "portable documents" retain their true formatting across platforms and are useful for documents with complex formatting such as newsletters or financial statements. The reader offers search, print and other features and is available across many platforms as a browser-based plugin or helper.

Available from Adobe on their download page.

General instructions:

Once the reader is installed on your system, simply clicking the link from your browser should begin the automatic process of starting the reader and accessing and displaying the file. Files generally have a .PDF extension.

Files can also be saved and viewed separately from your browser.

Microsoft Word Viewer

Microsoft Word Viewer is a small application that enables Word users to share their documents with people who do not use Microsoft Word for Windows. Word Viewer allows users to view and print Word documents exactly as they appear in Word. It gives users the flexibility to view page layout, zoom, outline, headers/footers, footnotes, and annotations. Word Viewer allows users to read and print Word documents, but it does not allow them to edit documents. Users may, however, copy information from Word documents and activate OLE objects embedded within them.

Available from Microsoft on their download page.

Microsoft Excel Viewer

Microsoft Excel Viewer is a small, no-charge, freely distributable program that lets people view and print Microsoft Excel for Windows (version 2.0 and greater) and Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh (versions 2.2a and greater) spreadsheet files.

Available from Microsoft on their download .

Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer

Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer 97 enables PowerPoint users to share their presentations with people who do not have PowerPoint installed on their computers. If you do not have PowerPoint installed on your computer, you can use the PowerPoint Viewer to view and print PowerPoint presentations exactly as they appear in PowerPoint. With this viewer, you can see animation, graphics effects, action settings, hyperlinks, and custom shows.

Available from Microsoft on their download page.

Rich Text Format Files (.RTF)

A file format developed by Microsoft designed to allow formatting information to be retained when exchanging files among various word processing and other applications. For example, a word processing file saved as .RTF may be opened by other word processors and even on other platforms.

ZIP Files (.ZIP)

One or more files contained in a single compressed file for efficient downloading. Programs to decompress the files are widely available across platforms either as standalone utilities or as file manager or browser helpers.

PKZIP is available from PKWARE on their download page. This and other programs to decompress the files are widely available. Files generally have a .ZIP extension another program is WinZip their download page.

General instructions:

When you select the link to the file, you should be prompted by your browser to save the file.

Choose a directory in which to save the .ZIP file, perhaps a temporary directory for this purpose.

Use the program of your choice to un-zip or decompress the .ZIP file to its original file(s).

Self-Extracting ZIP (.EXE) or Executable

ZIP files that are self-extracting — they do not require a separate program to un-zip or decompress the files. Files generally have an .EXE extenuation and are PC executable files.

General instructions:

When you select the link to the file, you should be prompted by your browser to save the file.

Choose a directory in which to save the .EXE file, perhaps a temporary directory for this purpose.

Use your file management program to start the .EXE file. It will automatically "un-zip" or decompress to its original file(s).

An .EXE file may also be an executable — a normal program file ready to be used (executed).

TAR (.TAR, .TAR.GZ, TAR.Z)

TAR (tape archive), a UNIX utility, combines a group of files into a single file (usually with a .TAR extension). TAR files are then often compressed using the compress or gzip commands, with the resulting files having .TAR.GZ or TAR.Z extensions.

Consult the MAN files for your UNIX system for the appropriate syntax for extracting data from a TAR file.

These compressed files are comparable to ZIP files on the PC platform. Many PC ZIP utilities can also uncompress TAR files.

.doc - Microsoft Word

.pps - PowerPoint Viewer

.xls - Excel Spreadsheet Viewer

.wpd - WordPerfect

Corel no longer offers a viewer

.pdf - Acrobat Reader

.jpg - You can view these in your web browser or most imaging software.

.scr - USE CAUTION if you receive a screen saver via email. They can contain worms or viruses.

.pif - DO NOT OPEN! This is most likely a virus. Clicking it will run a program or code that can mess up your computer.

As for compressed files (.zip & .sit), you can Stuffit! No, I'm not telling you off...Stuffit Expander is a great program that will open most compressed files.

There are also freeware/shareware programs for opening .zip files such as WinZip. In addition, with Windows XP you can save any zipped file to your desktop or a folder and access the files without unzipping (just click it like any other folder—drag items out to run them).

So, next time you get an attached file in your email but don't have the program to open it, just grab a viewer.

Java