Where to Download The Top 11 Plug-Ins

How do I find these Internet plug-ins?

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.

Where do I go to manually get plug-ins?

Yahoo Toolbar – recommended for killing popup ads and for enhanced web browsing:
http://toolbar.yahoo.com/

Acrobat – for viewing of PDF files:
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

Shockwave - for animation, games and multimedia files:
http://sdc.shockwave.com/shockwave/download/frameset.fhtml?

Flash - for animation, games and navigation:
http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash

Java VM – for running Java applets such as an ICQ:
http://www.virtualmachine.tk/
or here:
http://java-virtual-machine.net/download.html

Quicktime – for watching files such as movie trailers:
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/

Real Player – also used to watch video on the Net:
http://www.real.com/player/

Media Player - yet another format used for video on the net:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download/default.asp

Pop-up Window Killers - to reduce annoying advertising:
http://download.com.com/sort/3120-2001-0-1-3.html?qt=pop+up+killer&ca=2001

Not technically plug-ins but nice-to-have utilities:

WinZip - to uncompress .zip files (the Evaluation copy is free for 30 days, then is $29 USD after that): http://www.winzip.com/download.htm

Winamp - to play .mp3 and .wav files you may download:
http://www.winamp.com/player/

Anti-Virus - to help prevent nasty programs infecting your computer:
http://download.com.com/sort/3120-2001-0-1-4.html?qt=anti-virus&ca=2001

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