Some basic tips on downloading and viewing our support materials...

How to download files:

When you click on a download hyperlink (usually shown by underlined text when pointed to) you can transfer different types of files from our server (where this website is held) to the hard drive of your computer. Various types of file can be downloaded from the Denford website, here are the most popular:

Executable (.exe) Files

All files with the extension ".exe" are simply collections of all the files required to install the application. For example, the file "lcdpres.exe"
would contain all the files necessary to install the Lathe CAM Designer demonstration.
The extension letters "exe" stand for "Executable". This means a file that will perform a set routine of tasks when you click on it with your mouse. In the case of any "exe" file downloaded from our website, this "exe" routine will simply unpack all the compressed files necessary to install the application.
When you double-click on the exe file, the unpacker will automatically launch, as shown below:

It is recommended that a checkmark is present before the "When done unzipping Run: SETUP.EXE" option. This will allow the Winzip Self-Extractor program to begin program installation.

Click the Unzip button to begin extraction. Follow the on-screen instructions.

We try not to use self-extracting zip files any more, because many PC's will block .exe files from being run from the Internet. We prefer to use standard .zip files which can be downloaded and un-zipped later.

Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) Portable Document Files

Files with the extension ".pdf" are "Adobe Acrobat" files. The extension letters "pdf" stand for "Portable Document Format". Acrobat files are electronic versions of documents which can be read, printed, and freely distributed.

Acrobat files are available to download whenever you see this symbol:

To view and print ".pdf" files, Adobe Acrobat Reader must be installed on your computer.
The very latest version can be downloaded for free from the Adobe website.
Adobe Acrobat Reader will launch automatically in your web browser window to allow you to begin viewing the document before it has finished completely downloading. To do this, you'll need a browser that fully supports the required plug-ins (for example Microsoft Internet Explorer version 3 and above).
You may find that its slow to run the Adobe Acrobat Reader as a plug-in for your web browser software. In this case, you may want to download the Acrobat file and view it offline.
Simply save the Acrobat file as a normal downloaded file.
For example, PC users may right-click the mouse cursor on the Acrobat download link itself, select "Save the target as", then save the .pdf file to the required folder.

Compressed file archives (.zip) files

Most of our software updates are packed into zip files. Usually, all of the contents of one of our product CD's, is compressed into a single file.
With current operating systems (XP and Vista) it is very easy to un-compress a .zip file. You can simply double-click on the zip file to view and extract its contents.

When you have downloaded, and located one of our .zip files. You will need to extract the contents into a new folder on your local harddisk.
For example, if you have downloaded an image of the VR Milling CD, then unzip the contents to a new folder such as:
My Documents\Denford CD Images\VR Milling 5 CD\

Once the CD image has unzipped to this new folder, you can run the setup.exe file, and install the software as normal.

* We would always recommend removing previous software first *

Go to the control panel (Start -> Control Panel)

Then choose Add / Remove programs from there

Removing previous installations first is a much more reliable way to upgrade the software. We find that the MSI installer gets confused when file locations change between versions - the upgrade process seems to remove files, but not replace them so you end up with bits missing and problems running the software.