This section of the site is no longer being formally maintained, although new items may be added periodically.
Plug-ins and Utilities
Adobe Acrobat Reader
Adobe created the PDF format that allows documents to retain their visual appearance when displayed on a wide range of different platforms. Other vendors now support the format but Adobe's Acrobat Reader remains the most widely used. Current versions include a browser plug-in that allows a PDF document to be displayed as part of a web page.
www.adobe.co.uk/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
DirectX
DirectX is a Windows technology that enables higher performance in graphics and sound when playing games or watching video on a PC. It works by allowing multimedia applications access to the advanced features of high-performance hardware such as three-dimensional (3-D) graphics acceleration chips and sound cards.
DirectX has been supplied with every Windows version since Windows 95 with the exception of Windows NT4 which only supports DirectX version 3.0a (provided NT service pack 6 is installed). The technology has evolved in parallel with advances in hardware processing on sound and video cards, and the operating system can be upgraded via a download. However, the latest versions of DirectX are no longer compatible with Windows 95.
www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/
Java Virtual Machine (JVM) & Java Runtime Environment (JRE)
The JVM allows Java applets to run in a browser window. All versions of Windows up to XP were supplied with Microsoft's JVM, but Microsoft have stated that it will be removed from Windows XP SP1a onwards. It will also no longer be available to download from their website. A JVM is supplied with all versions of Mac OS.
The JRE allows Java applications to run in the operating system. The JRE was not supplied with any version of Windows, but was supplied with all Mac OSs.
The original JVM and JRE were developed by Sun Microsystems and continue to be available for most operating systems including Windows, Mac OS and Linux. In order to install the JVM from the Sun website it is necessary to install the JRE.
wwws.sun.com/software/download/technologies.html
Macromedia Flash & Shockwave
Flash is a widely-used vector graphics plug-in that is available for most PC and Mac-based browsers. XML support in recent versions allows it to be used to construct complex games and transactional websites.
Shockwave is a 3D graphics plug-in that is available for most PC and Mac-based browsers. It is designed to require low bandwidth and is typically used for web-based 3D games.
www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/alternates/#win (Windows versions)
www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/alternates/#mac (Mac OS versions)
Quicktime Media Player
QuickTime is Apple's media player, and is available for most Windows versions and all versions of Mac OS except versions of OS X prior to 10.1.3
www.apple.com/uk/quicktime/download/
Real Player
This is one of the most widely-used applications for the display of streaming audio and video, and over the years it and its companion products have evolved to become a media control centre. The Real website contains a wide (bewildering?) choice of free (limited functionality), paid-for (fully functional), archive and beta versions. Windows supports all versions, but platform support is otherwise version-specific, with platforms such as Mac OS 8 and 9 being limited to older versions of the Player.
Real Player has never been supplied with any Microsoft products but a version with limited functionality has been supplied with some Netscape versions.
http://service.real.com/downloads.html (Windows version)
http://forms.real.com/real/player/blackjack.html?src=uk-home,sysreqs/ (Mac OS version)
Stuffit
This file compression program from Aladdin is available for both Windows and Mac, being supplied with the latter.
www.aladdinsys.com/downloads/index.html
Windows Media Player
A version of Media Player has been supplied with every Windows version, the complexity having increased dramatically since 1995. From version 7 onwards (in mid-2000) the product has evolved from being just a player for audio and video files to being a 'media centre' - the heart of a PC-based entertainment system complete with catalogueing facilities and digital rights management (DRM). Versions are also available for other platforms including Mac OS.
www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download/default.asp
WinZip
This is the most widely-used file compression program for Windows, but there is no support for any other operating systems.