Everything on this site is set up so that you can download a copy onto your own computer. This FAQ will help you do just that. I do request that you not repost items from this site on another website (including message boards, etc.) without my permission. While some of the material is widely available, much of it is hard to find, and I've spent quite a bit of money and time collecting it.

If you have a question on multimedia that's not covered here, write in and let me know; I'll try to answer you in email and post the answer here in future revisions.

Q: How can I save the photos to my own computer?

A: In Internet Explorer, right click on the photo you wish to save and choose the "save picture as" option. In the dialogue box, choose where you want to save the file. Netscape should have a similar option.

Q: How do I get the wallpaper onto my own desktop?

A: First, it helps to know your screen resolution. Right-click anywhere on your desktop in Windows and select "properties" from the drop-down menu. Under the "settings" tab, the "screen area" indicator will list a pixel size for your current desktop (640x480, 800x600, and 1024x768 are the typical sizes).

Second, click the link to the wallpaper that fits your screen (or the largest option, if you have a larger screen). Right click on the photo (again in Internet Explorer), and select "save as wallpaper." The image will appear on your desktop. You can tweak it a little to make it fit perfectly by again right-clicking on the desktop and choosing properties, then, under the "background" tab, choose "stretch" in the "display" indicator. The photo will now stay on your desktop until you choose another via Internet Explorer.

If you want to keep a copy of the wallpaper, go into the windows directory and rename the file from "internet explorer wallpaper" (or something similar) to a descriptive title. You will have to go back to the properties menu (by right-clicking on the desktop) and select the wallpaper by its new title under "browse."

If you have an image program that lets you save images as a different type, you might want to download the wallpaper with the right-click/"save image as" option into a folder and later convert it to a bitmap and put it into your windows directory. (I believe active desktop can display .jpgs as wallpaper as well; all wallpapers here are in .jpg format.)

Q: How do I play/save the sounds?

If you click on the link to the sound, it should download and then play automatically. This won't save a copy onto your hard drive (except in an Internet Explorer temp file somewhere), however. To save the sound where you can find it, right click on the link and choose "save target as." In the dialogue box, choose where you want to save the file. Once it's saved, double click on it and it will play.

Q: How do I play/save the movies?

The movies are in realplayer format. You can download a free copy of the player at real.com. Once you have the player, you can click on the link to the movie you want and it will download into a temp file and begin to play. If you wish to save a copy of the movie where you can find it later, right click on the link and choose "save target as." In the dialogue box, choose where you want to save the file. Once it's saved, double click on it and it will play.

We will not be streaming video in the near future, as it costs more to do. Hopefully the real format will keep clips small enough to allow for downloads on any speed connection.