Python on Windows

 Go to http://python.org/download/ and download the latest version of Python 2.7 (2.7.1 at the time of writing). Unless you know otherwise, get the "Windows Installer" version, and not the "Windows X86-64 Installer" version. Start up a command prompt by clicking on the Start menu, clicking the "Run..." option, typing "cmd", and hitting enter. If you are using Windows Vista, you should click on the Start menu, type "cmd" into the Search field directly above the Start menu button, and click on "cmd" in the search results above the Search field. Test your Python install by typing

\Python27\python.exe

and hitting enter. You should see something like Python 2.7.1 (r271:86832, ...) on win32 Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information. >>>  To exit the Python prompt, type

exit

and press Enter. This will take you back to the Windows command prompt. 