I want to understand potential problems that could occur during downloads.
Most problems encountered during downloads are caused by a poor or interrupted Internet connection, software firewall, antivirus software, or the download manager. These issues are more likely to occur with large file downloads, but may also show up when downloading small files as well. It is also not uncommon to successfully download several files, and then encounter a problem with just one file.

Download errors are somewhat common. Frequently these errors do not show themselves until you try to extract the data from your .ZIP file and you are alerted by a corrupted file, password request, or invalid archive error message. Again, these problems are fairly common and do NOT mean that the download file itself is bad; with VERY few exceptions, the file you are attempting to download is perfectly fine. The most likely cause is an incomplete or faulty download by your computer.

Keep in mind that even when it appears that your download completed successfully, it may not have done so.

The .PNG images you will download will be in a compressed .ZIP file. You need to have a program like WinZip, WinRar, ZipGenius, etc. to decompress, not only our images files, but all compressed image files on the Web that are of high resolution and, consequently, are large files. WinZip is a free program that can be downloaded from the Web. A Google or Yahoo search will provide the link.

Please note that we constantly monitor the integrity of our files and repair those that are damaged or have become corrupted. However, if you still have problems downloading image files, please carefully read the following instructions. We are confident that you will find the solution to any problem you might be having since this is a summary of all the problems our members have faced throughout our years of operation:

1) If you are running a personal firewall or antivirus software on your machine (i.e., Norton), please disable it just long enough to download the file. Please try this first as it is often the cause of the download problem you are having. FIRST, however, delete the old downloaded .ZIP file from your computer and also from your recycle bin as the new file will automatically revert back to it if the old file is still present.

2) It's always a good idea to make sure that you have a steady and strong Internet connection. Due to more frequent reliability issues with dial-up service than with other types, customers who use a dial-up service will probably encounter more download issues. Wireless connections also can perform unreliably, and interruptions in the wireless connection can result in an incomplete download. These types of circumstances are beyond our control.

3) If the problem resides in .ZIP files format downloading, please note that for security reasons, the .ZIP files are protected by a PHP script embedded in HTML, and you may be using a download manager. We recommend that you disable your download manager program (i.e. GoZilla, GetRight, etc.) and try to download the files again. If everything works well, then you have to adjust your download manager settings. However, take in account that some download managers don't access protected files, so in case of doubt, contact your download program’s technical support department.

4) If you try to download files and obtain an error message, such as “This is not a valid file” or “URL not found,” take into account that for security reasons, our image files change their names automatically in a random way. In this case, you likely have a temporary Internet file or a cookie that is associated with the previous name. We suggest you go to Internet Tools / Internet Options and delete Temporary Internet Files and clear History files and try again. If this does not correct the problem, you may need to delete Cookies as well.

5) If a problem occurs as you’re decompressing .ZIP files, the problem lies with the program you’re using for this purpose. Check the program’s settings. If the program says that items are already downloaded and they aren’t, the problem either lies in your PC or is a .ZIP file decompression program fault, an antivirus software and/or firewall blocking issue, a download configuration involuntary change, or a recent reconfiguration in your ISP (Internet Service Provider).

6) Try temporarily disabling your firewall protection as a test. If images aren’t showing up and you have a firewall installed in your PC, temporarily disable it and/or check its configuration.

Other tips that may help:

- If you recently installed a decompression (unzip) program, make sure it was installed correctly.

- If you are using an external storage disk, make sure that it’s appropriately formatted and has enough space to hold the files you’re downloading.

- Check the configuration of your decompression program. In case the program didn’t install correctly, try uninstalling and reinstalling it.

- Make sure your storage device is working properly.

- Try to identify the time the problem started and what actions you took up to that point. For example, did this problem start occurring immediately after you changed your PC configuration or installed a new storage device? If so, you might focus on this to correct the problem.

VERY IMPORTANT: For programming requirements, some of the .PNG image file names include the word "JPG." This is not its actual file format, so don’t be concerned. Just save the file as you always have and open it in your graphics editing program. The graphics program will confirm that the image is in .PNG file format.

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