Installing the Fractal Science Kit
Follow these instructions to download and install the Fractal Science Kit on your computer.
Before you install the product, please review the System Requirements.
The following instructions are written from the perspective of Microsoft Windows XP but Windows Vista and Windows 7 users should have no trouble following along.
To install the Fractal Science Kit, do the following:
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Download the application. Click on the Download link on the product web site, and follow the instructions on that page to download the product. The application is distributed as a zip file fsk.zip.
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Unzip the file fsk.zip. Select the file fsk.zip, and execute the Extract All... command on the File menu to unzip the file. On the Extraction Wizard, click Next twice, and then uncheck Show extracted files and click Finish. This creates a folder named fsk in the same folder as the zip file. You can remove fsk.zip now if you want to.
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Open the folder fsk. You will find 3 files: Readme.rtf, setup.exe, and Setup.msi.
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Execute the installation script setup.exe. Select the file setup.exe and execute the Open command on the File menu. Follow the directions to install the product. On Windows Vista, a warning dialog is displayed at this point stating: An unidentified program wants access to your computer. You must click Allow to proceed with the installation. On Windows 7, a warning dialog is displayed at this point stating: Do you want to allow the following program from an unknown publisher to make changes to this computer. You must click Yes to proceed with the installation.
If you are installing the product for the 1st time, you have 30 days to try out the application before you need to license the product. During the 30 day trial period, the fractal images are watermarked with the product name. Other than that, the trial version is identical to the registered version. When the 30 day trial period expires, you can still open the application, but the fractal generation process is disabled.
When you purchase a product license, you will be sent an email containing licensing information which you can use to convert the trial version of the Fractal Science Kit to a registered version. See Registering the Product for details.
If you are installing a minor update to the product and you have a registered version installed on your machine, you can simply install the new version; i.e., you do not need to register the product again.
If you try to install the product and the version number is less than or equal to that currently installed on your machine, you will get an error from the installer stating: An error occurred attempting to install Fractal Science Kit 1.0 and the error details will indicate that another version of this product is already installed. In this case, you will need to uninstall the the current product before installing the prior version.
One you have installed the product, see Getting Started for tips on learning about the product.
Uninstalling the Product
The following instructions are written from the perspective of Microsoft Windows XP but Windows Vista and Windows 7 users should have no trouble following along.
To uninstall the Fractal Science Kit, do the following:
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Execute the Control Panel item on the Windows Start menu.
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On the left side of the Control Panel, select Switch to Classic View (if necessary).
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On the Control Panel window, double-click the Add or Remove Programs item. (On Windows Vista the item is called Programs and Features.)
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In the list of programs, scroll down and select the entry for the Fractal Science Kit.
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Click the Remove button. (On Windows Vista click the Uninstall button.)
The Fractal Science Kit will be removed from your computer. Note that the Fractal Science Kit Home folder and the files/folders it contains are not removed when you uninstall the product. If you do not plan to reinstall the program at a later date, you can remove this folder.