Installing LaTeX on Windows

The first thing to note about using LaTex, is that creating a document involves using a couple of different applications, rather than a single one, as would usually be the case with a word processor. The two main apps are the TeX engine, which actually creates the document, and an editor, where you write the document.

If you want to, of course, you can write the thing in Notepad, but for the less hardcore geeks among us, LaTeX specific editors, like TeXCenter or WinEDT, provide a lot of useful functionality.

The easiest way to install all this stuff correctly, is to download and run the ProTeXt package (The link is in the box on the left). When you run this, it creates a temporary folder with all the necessary files, and opens a pdf document. All you have to do then is read through the pdf document, clicking on links as you go. This starts the installation packages for each application.

Depending on the speed of your machine, it may take a while to install MikTex (the Tex engine for Windows), but the process is very straightfoward. and then you're ready to create your first TeX document!