First and foremost make sure you obtain your open source packages from a reliable source. If you are downloading from the web avoid blindly following links from unknown web sites. There are fake sites out there so please be careful. Our articles covering specific packages contain accurate (at the time or writing) links to the official websites for downloads. Many of the applications are available for several operating systems (usually Linux, Mac and Windows) so please make sure you download the correct version for you. Many applications also offer several versions. Unless you feel adventurous you should choose the version labelled as 'stable' if multiple versions are offered. The terms Alpha, Beta and RC (Release Candidate) refer to versions that are still under development and you should be aware that they may have bugs. These versions are made available mainly for testing by developers and testers.

For the most part installation consists of double clicking the downloaded installer, following the instructions provided, clicking Next a few times, and that's usually about all there is to it. However for all packages you should be aware of a few general points.

Read the license!

This cannot be stressed enough. Most (but not all) of the packages referred to on this site come with an open source license known as the GNU General Public License (or GPL). This license gives you the freedom to make copies of the software and give it to others. It does not demand money from you, nor does it require that you provide any personal information of any kind.

Not all software is this friendly. It's so easy to click the I Agree button, but unless you read the license, you have no idea what you are agreeing to. We've seen many cases where clcking on the I Agree button was effectively saying "Yes, please install this spyware program on my computer". By the same token you should carefully read every screen the installer presents to make sure you are not accepting additional packages. For example the current Adobe Acrobat installer will also install the Google Toolbar in your Internet Explorer unless you notice and untick the pre-ticked box!

Shut Down?

Some installs require that you reboot your computer after installing. Others ask you to shut down any other programs you are using before installing. The latter is usually a just to be sure measure, however it's best to follow the instruction. If it's not convenient at the time then quit the install and do it later.

Start Now?

In most case, the installer has a couple of tick boxes in the final stages. These are usually offers to show you the latest documentation (or README) and to automatically start the program. If this is what you want fine, but just in case it isn't, pay close attention to the final install screen (as well as all others).