The latest release of WinVNKey and other older releases are available for free download at
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/winvnkey
Each version may have alpha, beta, and production releases. You can tell which version is the latest by checking the build date. The build date is usually of the form: one digit for year, two digits for month, and two digits for day. For instance, the first release has the version label "WinVNKey 4.0 beta 1 build 20823." (Build 20823 is the package built on 2002/08/23.) Production releases do not have the word beta or alpha in the version label.
Of course you can always check the latest information by browsing WinVNKey home page at
http://www.trichlor.org/ (Trichlor home page)
http://www.trichlor.org/windows/index.html (WinVNKey home page at TriChlor web site)
http://winvnkey.sourceforge.net (WinVNKey home page on sourceforge.net)
http://winvnkey.sourceforge.net (WinVNKey home page on sourceforge.net)
http://www.vn.net/0extranet.winvnkey.php
Starting beta 3, the help file will be released separately from the executables to reduce download time for modem users. The help file, wvnkey40-help.exe, is common for all platforms: Windows 9X/ME/NT/2000/XP. Because WinVNKey can be configured to use the help file from the web or the local hard drive, the user has a choice not to download the help file. The advantage of using a web-based help file is that it is always up-to-date.
What packages you should download depend on your system:
For Windows 95:
wvnkey40-win95.exe (must have)
wvnkey40-help.exe (optional)
mfc42.zip (must have, but download only once. See notes below)
Alternatively, you can download the complete package wvnkey40-win95-full.exe, which contains all three packages above.
For Windows 98/ME:
wvnkey40-win98me.exe (must have)
wvnkey40-help.exe (optional)
mfc42.zip (must have, but download only once. See notes below)
Alternatively, you can download the complete package wvnkey40-win98me-full.exe, which contains all three packages above.
For Windows NT 3.5x/4/2000/XP: The latest release is WinVNKey 5.0.355 available for NT platform only.
wvnkey50-nt.exe (must have)
wvnkey50-help.exe (optional)
Alternatively, you can download the complete package wvnkey50-nt-full.exe, which contains all two packages above.
Notes on the names:
The name wvnkey40-xxx.exe is for illustrative purpose only. The real name can vary, e.g., wvnkey40beta3-xxx.exe, wvnkey40rc1-xxx.exe, etc. Usually beta2 is older than beta3, which is older than rc1 (Release Candidate), which is older than rc2, etc. The final release does not have the beta or rc label.
This is for Windows 95/98/ME only. These Windows versions are 16 bits and do not normally have the file MFC42.DLL in <WINDOWS>\SYSTEM32 directory (please read: SYSTEM32, not SYSTEM). But your system may already have this file because some applications may have installed it for you.
If your system does not have the file MFC42.DLL in <WINDOWS>\SYSTEM32 directory, you need to download mfc42.zip to your hard drive, unzip it, and then put MFC42.DLL into <WINDOWS>\system32 or into the directory where WinVNKey will be installed. This is done once and only once. You do not have to download it again when downloading new versions of WinVNKey in the future.