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Load2Learn – Making curriculum materials accessible
Hello. Welcome to this Load2Learn video on downloading and installing free software.
In this video we will have a look how to safely download free software, and how to install
free software without unwanted add-ons. First, let’s have a look at some safe downloading
tips.
First, you should only download software from the software website or choose a reputable
software repository such as download.com. For example, if somebody recommended you to
download some software and you searched for it on Google, often you have a choice of downloading
it directly from the website or from a download site. In this example I searched for Earth
and View, which is a very famous free image viewer, and you can see that I got the result
that goes directly to the website or that goes to download site. Preferably, you should
go to the original software site first. Often, as here in the case of Earth and View, the
free software will actually use a download repository such as Download.com, Brothersoft
or File Forum, but it is best if you go to them from the homepage of the software. Also,
sometimes when you search for an application, as in this case the antivirus programme AVG
which offers a free version, the first result may be the advertisement for the software
and only the second result is the actual link to the webpage. The vast majority of the time,
clicking on the advertising will take you to the same place, but very occasionally somebody
else may have bought that advertisement and, in fact, take you to a different page. This
could be for a non-malicious purpose but it is best to be safe and click on the result
that is not the ad.
Another important thing when downloading free software is to avoid misleading download advertisements
that you find on download pages. For example, this is a page where I was downloading the
free screen reader NVDA, that stands for non-visual desktop access. At the top, as a plain link,
I see a link to non-visual desktop access, but in a much more prominent, colourful image
in the centre of the page, I see Start Download, but is actually an ad for downloading free
software for converting videos, sometimes it’s a link to a paid software as well.
Most of the time this is perfectly safe, Sourceforge, for example, is a very reputable software
repository but, very occasionally, these ads can lead to dangerous website, but at the
very least they cause you inconvenience because then you may download something that you were
not planning on downloading. It is therefore best to pay good attention when you’re on
a download page so if you were downloading the thing you are keen to download and not
something else by mistake. This can happen to everybody but at least if you do make a
mistake you will know how it happened and how to get back and correct it.
Now let us look at how to install software safely and without annoyances. First, some
free Software tries to install other free software, or very often a trial version of
a commercial software, at the same time for promotional purposes. For example, if you
try to download the latest version of the Adobe Flash Player, it will also offer you
to install the MacAfee Security Scan Plus. You may want to do that but you probably already
have an antivirus and do not need that as an option. Unfortunately Adobe tick that by
default therefore you have to untick that option if you don’t want to install MacAfee
alongside Flash. Other software may try to install browser add-ons, such as a tool bar,
or change a default search in your browser to a different search engine or change your
homepage. Sometimes you may want to do that because the toolbar may provide you useful
services, but most people do not actually use these toolbars and they simply take up
space on their computer. Also there is no harm in having a different search engine,
they generally use a Google service or they get a small cut from Google or another service
provider, such as Bing, on any searches you make where you can go on and ad, and there
is nothing wrong with that, but sometimes the search servers are not as full featured
and most of the time you probably do not want to change your homepage either, so as you’re
installing this software you should be careful to untick all of these options if they are
ticked by default, which, most of the time, they are. Most of the time these additional
sponsored offers do not actually cause you any harm but they should always be optional.
If you cannot choose not to install these additional services, then I would recommend
that you do not install that software and look for an alternative.
Free software writers use all of these tricks to help support their website and their work,
even though it’s relatively cheap to host the website these days, but for very popular
software this can be very expensive as well as time consuming, so if you do not use any
of the advertising options see if you could support free software by donating, or at least
by contributing to the community around the software such as writing guides for using
it or simply blogging about using it and submitting bug reports to the author, but please do it
in a polite way, recognising that you are getting something for free and acknowledging
the group service that this person provides.
Here is an example of how free software, in this case NVDA, is asking for donations without
trying to trick you to downloading something you don’t want to, and they force you to
make a choice whether you want to donate or not every time you download, but you are under
no obligation to do so, particularly because NVDA is not only free but also open source,
which means anybody can distribute it.
During installation, some software sets new defaults for opening files, for example when
I was installing Earth and View it asked me to become the default for opening all image
files, or even some other files such as video files, and here you could spend some time
thinking about what you are using this software for. In this case I chose images only but
sometimes I will just choose none. Some software does this without asking you, but you can
always change the defaults later. If you want to change a default later simply right click
on the file that you want to open and instead of opening it directly, choose Open With and
there you can choose the application you want to open with. You can choose the application
only once, or if you click on Choose Default Programme, you can choose the one that you
want to open that file by default. Here are some final tips on using free software.
First, only install software that you explicitly asked for. If something pops up on your computer
that you don’t know why, choose Cancel or hit the Escape key. Occasionally that may
cancel something you don’t want to cancel, but you can always go back and do it again.
You should also consider using portable versions of the software you use. This will allow you
to use them on multiple computers or carry them around with you on your USB drive. A
good place to get portable apps or portable versions of non-portable apps, is Portableads.com.
We have a special video that describes how to use portable apps.
Finally, when you use free software, you should read the license to understand what rights
you have. Some free software is open source which means that anybody can distribute it
as long as they abide by the terms of the licence. Other software is simply freeware
which means you can use it for free but you cannot distribute it without the permission
of the author. There may also be some restrictions on whether you can use this software for personal
purposes only or for any reason at all.
Thank you for watching.
Thank you for watching.
Thank you for watching. For more tutorials or information about Load2Learn, please visit
load2learn.org.uk or contact us on 0300 303 8313
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