CRITICAL - Download Instructions to Expand files - READ Before Downloading

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CRITICAL - Download Instructions to Expand files

Quick "How To" Steps:

STEP 1) Find the download you want, click the link, enter a password (if needed) and choose "Save File" from your browser

STEP 2) DO NOT Double click or attempt to open the file yet ! 
If you do it will most likely open a text editor with the file and can even Lockup the Mac !

STEP 3) STUFFIT EXPAND (Expands compressed files and removes any Encoding)

Stuffit Expand 6.0 (Included with Mac OS 9.2.2): Drag the saved file(s) onto the application "Stuffit Expander" located by default in "Application (Mac OS 9)/Internet Utilities/Alladin Folder/Stuffit Expander 6.0/" Folder
Alternatively, for those new to Mac OS that have trouble dragging a file onto an application icon, we recommend opening the StuffIt Expander application and Selecting "File" and "Expand", then navigating to the downloaded file and choosing "Open" to decode/expand the downloaded file.
Stuffit Expand 7.0.3 (Included with Stuffit Deluxe v7.0.3): For users that have already downloaded and installed Stuffit Deluxe 7.0.3 from the Our forum http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,1280.0.html or the Mac Garden http://macintoshgarden.org/apps/stuffit-deluxe we recommend opening the StuffIt Expander application located in the "Stuffit Deluxe 7.0.3/Stuffit Drag and Drop" folder and Selecting "File" and "Expand", then navigating to the downloaded file and picking "Choose" to decode the downloaded file.  As stated previously, simply dragging the downloaded file onto the "Stuffit Expander" application (or an alias of the application) will automate the process.

STEP 4) Now read the download instructions: Depending on the type of file, you may have to double click to mount a CD or Floppy image, burn a CD with Toast using the file as the source, or launch and install directly.

BACKGOUND INFO (Optional Reading):

Why are Mac OS downloads so difficult ?

Most of our files have been encoded into MacBinary format (.bin) so that the data and the resource fork of the file will not be damaged when storing the Macintosh file on a non-Macintosh system. Classic Mac OS files have are different in structure than other file systems that use file extensions to associate files with the program/application that created them.  For example, on PC systems, files with the ".DOC" extension, when clicked will launch MicroSoft Word as the associated program.  Classic Mac OS files have a "Resource" fork that stores the files CREATOR info and TYPE. This enables the Classic Mac OS to know the program/application that will utilize the file and the type of file that it is in case that program can open multiple type of files.

Unfortunately, although we have gone thru painful steps to "encode" our files so that they preserve all their original data (and resource forks), most browsers will change the creator information stored in the file as they download it since the browser does NOT recognize the type of file.  Thus turning an awesome archive into a gibberish text file. So, that is why we use "Stuffit Expander" which will immediately recognize the downloaded file, fix the file info, decode the file, and also expand all the contents.

You can read this thread for more detailed info:

http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,1131.msg4286.html#msg4286