Number 199 - December 1999
Applying Software Patches
from Gina Smith's column, Access Internet Magazine
    Q. The manufacturer of a software program I own just e-mailed me, asking me to download a "patch" from its Web site to fix problems with the software. How do I do this?
    Steven Simmons, Sacramento CA

A. Usually you just go to the software maker's Web site, click on the file name (be sure to choose the correct version), wait for the file to download,1 find the file on your computer and double click to run it.2

    Because software makers rush programs to market and cram in so many features, buggy software is common. When a new program comes out, wait a few weeks to buy it, allowing enough time for the inevitable bug fixes to be released, and don't forget to send in software registration forms, or you won't be notified when a fix comes out.3

TOGGLE Editor's Notes:
    In the early days of personal computing, errors or faults in programs were corrected by rewriting or correcting portions of the program or code that drove the computer. Often this was accomplished by inserting arcane commands into the "raw" code or assembly language that was recognized by the computer's Central Processing Unit (CPU). This was referred to as applying a "patch" to the code, as though it were a bicycle tire. Nowadays applying such a correction to a program is much simpler and requires no knowledge of CPU operations. It is all taken care of automatically by including in the "patch" the commands required to accomplish the update. All you have to do is "run" the executable (.exe) file that applies the patch.

Footnotes:
    1 Before initiating the download you will be asked where you want the downloaded software to be stored, that is, in what directory do you want it to be saved. Commonly this is the C:\Download directory, but you may choose to put it anywhere you like. However, you should give this a little thought. It is not wise to put it in a working directory like Windows because it will become lost among the many other files there. Put it in a logical place, like C:\Download, then after you are through with it you can delete it.
 
    2 If the program is an executable file, with an .exe extension, you can simply click on it and it will "run", expanding itself and searching for the related software and, upon finding it, apply the "patch" to upgrade your software. Sometimes, however, you may find the downloaded software is in a compressed format, without the convenient self-expanding feature invoked to make it an .exe file. Usually such a file will be a zipped file with a .zip extension. Such a file must be unzipped, i.e. uncompressed, before it can be run. To do this you must use a utility file such as WinZip for Windows, or PKZIP which runs in DOS. We have such utilities in our disk library. Ask our librarian about getting a copy and how to use it. If it is neither an .exe file nor a .zip file, ask the librarian or one of our TOG members for assistance or use the TOG Help Line.

    3 An adage of the personal computing community which sprang from less than positive experiences in the 1980s is: "Never buy version 1.0 of anything." In fact, however, version 1.0 is often the second or possibly the third release of the software, having gone through an Alpha (in-house) test period, then a Beta test release to selected experts in the field (often several hundred experienced computer users), and possibly a second or third Beta test release, before an official version 1.0, incorporating changes recommended during the Alpha/Beta test periods, is published and sold to the public. During the Alpha and Beta test periods the "experts" put the software through its paces trying to make it fail with as many combinations of commands and demands as they can think of.

A Happy Accident?
    During the preparation of footnote 3 about the Beta testing of software, a typographical error produced the word "siftware". We like it!

    Siftware = Beta test version of software!

It has all the right connotations of sifting out coarse, unwanted material (bugs and all their parts) thus improving the quality of the product--what rockhounds call highgrading.
  Number 199 - December 1999