Choosing Files You Can Use

You can download any type of computer file, but not every file or program you find online works on every type of computer.

“Duh!” you might think. But you'd be surprised how often people forget this. Web browsing enables different kinds of computers to all look at the same online content, so after a while people tend to forget that on the Web, PCs, Macs, and other types of computers each use different kinds of files and programs.

When you search for files and programs, you must make sure that the ones you choose are compatible with your computer type, and often also with your operating system (Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP; DOS; Mac OS9 or OS X; UNIX flavor; and so on).

The Two File Types: Program and Data

Although there ...

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