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## Chapter 1. Download and Install

If you are in North America, you need to get a Data Direct account from Zap2it before you install FreeGuide. To do this, go to http://labs.zap2it.com and click the "New User? Sign-Up" link. Use the certificate code `TUYO-DCXM-CBUT`. Make a note of the username and password you choose as you will need to enter them during FreeGuide's first-time wizard. NOTE: You should enter your password despite the warning.

## Windows

Before you do anything else, you will need the Java 2 Runtime Environment version 1.4 or above: You can check this by typing java -version in a DOS or Cmd window. Ask on the FreeGuide Users' mailing list (see the Contact page) if you have trouble installing Java.

Now, to get FreeGuide, go to the sourceforge download page and pick the file like this: "`freeguide-x.x.x-with-xmltv-win32.exe`" with the highest version number to get the windows installer.

NOTE: you almost certainly want the "with-xmltv" version, unless you know you don't need XMLTV.

The only thing you need to do after downloading the file is double-clicking on the `.exe` file and following the installation instructions. After the installation, you will find a FreeGuide icon in your start menu.

### Configuring your System

As soon as it's installed, FreeGuide should be ready to go, unless you are behind a firewall or proxy server.

#### Proxy

If you have a proxy server or are behind a firewall, you will need to follow the instructions below to allow FreeGuide to see past them to the Internet.

NOTE: most home users will not need to do this - you are ready to start FreeGuide! Go straight to the User Guide.

In the following replace "`example.com`" with your proxy server address, and "`8080`" with the port it uses. On Windows you can find these out from the "Tools" menu on Internet Explorer by choosing "Options", going to the "Connections" tab and clicking "LAN Settings":

##### With Windows 2000/XP

Right Click "My Computer" -> Properties Choose the Advanced Tab and click the Environment Variables button at the bottom middle of the window. Click the "New" button in the Global Variables section. Variable Name: `http_proxy` Variable Value: http://example.com:8080 Click OK Click OK

##### With Windows 95/98/ME

Add a line "`set http_proxy=http://example.com:8080`" to the file `C:\Autoexec.bat`

Restart your computer.

#### Channel icons

In order to make channel icons download ok, you will need to add some stuff to the shortcut you use to launch FreeGuide. Right-click on the shortcut and choose Properties.

Now change the command to read like this:

javaw.exe -DproxySet=true -DproxyHost=example.com -DproxyPort=8080 -jar "C:\Program Files\FreeGuide\startup.jar" --doc_directory "C:\Program Files\FreeGuide\doc" --install_directory "C:\Program Files\FreeGuide\"

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