Most large text files and software packages are compressed using PK Zip® software from PKWARE, Inc. This reduces the amount of time needed to transfer the files to your computer and also ensures that you get all of the files needed for a particular software package. Files that have been compressed in this manner have .ZIP for a filename extension. The files must be de-compressed (un-Zipped) before you can use them. You can download an evaluation copy of the compression / de-compression software from the PKWARE Website by activating (clicking) the PKZIP icon. Some software packages come as self extracting Zip files. These have .EXE for a filename extension. You do not need any special software to extract the files. You run the file as an executable program to extract the files.

Winzip is an alternate compression and extraction utility that will work with the .zip files here.

Some documentation files contain text formatting and embedded graphics that can not be easily duplicated in a simple text file or a Web page. These types of files have been converted to Adobe® Portable Document Format (PDF) files. These files have .pdf for a filename extension. You will need a copy of Adobe's Acrobat® Reader software to view these files. Acrobat Reader also allows you to search, and print PDF formatted documents. Acrobat Reader is available for various computer platforms. You can download a free copy from the Adobe web site by activating (clicking) the "Get Acrobat" icon.