Using downloads

How do I download files safely from websites?
How long do downloads take to complete?
What software do I need to view my downloaded file?
I received an error during the download. What can I do?
I received an error when opening a PDF document I had downloaded. What can I do?

How do I download files safely from websites?

Never open a file directly from a website.
Always download the file to your PC or network drive.
Always check the file for viruses before you open it.

Before you begin, create a folder called 'Downloads' on your C: drive.

If you are using Firefox:

Before downloading the file, tell Firefox that you want all downloaded files to be stored in the 'Downloads' folder that you created earlier. To do this:

Choose the Tools > Options menu item.
When the window opens, make sure the 'Save files to' line on the main tab shows your downloads folder. If not, click the [Browse] button and choose the required folder. Click [OK] to close the Options window.

When you click the download link, a window will open.
Choose the Save to Disc option.
The [OK] button will be greyed out until the file is ready to download.
When the [OK] button turns black, click it to start the download.
When the download is done, click the yellow folder icon named 'Downloads'.

If you are using Internet Explorer:

When you click the download link, a window will open and ask if you want to save or open this file.
Click [Save] and save it to your Downloads folder.
When you see the Download Complete message, click the [Open Folder] button.

To check the downloaded file:

Right-click the downloaded file. The pop-up menu should include an option named 'Scan for viruses' or something similar - the exact wording will depend on which virus-checking software you have on your PC.
Choose this option - your virus scanner will check the file.
The scanner should report "No virus found" or a similar message.

How long do downloads take to complete?

This depends on the size of the file you are downloading. We do our best to provide downloads that are fast and efficient but this is not always possible. Most files shouldn't take longer than five minutes to download with a standard 56K modem.

What software do I need to view my downloaded file?

PDF documents ([filename].pdf)
Most of our downloads are in PDF format. To view these documents, you will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. This is a free program which can be downloaded from the Adobe website (this link will open in a new window).

Word documents ([filename].doc)
Some of our documents are in Word format, so you will need to have Microsoft Word installed on your computer. You can also open this with other word-processing software, such as Word Perfect or Star Office. You may be able to open these files in a text editor such as Notepad but this will only work with the most basic documents.

GIF and JPEG files ([filename].gif or [filename].jpg)
If the file is an image or photo (with .gif or .jpg at the end of the file name) you can view the file in many different applications, including many web browsers such as Internet Explorer or Netscape. You can also insert these into presentations and word-processing programs such as Microsoft Powerpoint and Word respectively.

I received an error during the download. What can I do?

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused. In order for us to look into the error, we need to know the address of the page you were looking at, the file you were attempting to download and the error message you received. Please email all of this information to us at web@girlguiding.org.uk.

I received an error when opening a PDF document I had downloaded. What can I do?

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused. The first step is to download and install the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader from the Adobe website (this link will open in a new window). If this does not solve the problem, please email us at web@girlguiding.org.uk with the error message you received, the name of the download causing the problem and the URL of the web page you downloaded it from.