ChordEase comes in two flavors (Installer and Portable), each of which is available in both 64-bit and 32-bit versions. If you have a 64-bit CPU, it's strongly recommended to use the 64-bit version of ChordEase. Most users want an installer, because it's easier. For example, installing adds ChordEase to the Windows start menu, and allows ChordEase to register its file types, so that they have appropriate icons and can be opened via double-clicking in Explorer.
The portable flavor is useful if you want ChordEase to run from a USB flash drive, and store its settings on the flash drive instead of in the local machine's registry. The portable application has NO INSTALLER, and doesn't use the registry at all; settings are stored in an INI file in the same folder as the app. The instructions below apply to the installed flavor only. To use the portable app, simply unzip the distribution file to a folder and double-click ChordEase.exe.
Installing for the first time:
ChordEase is distributed as a zip file containing an installer. Unzip the distribution file, using WinZip or an equivalent program, and then double-click on ChordEase.msi to launch the installer. The installer is about as simple as an installer can be: for the default setup, just keep hitting "Next." Note that on the "Select Installation Folder" page, you have the option to install for all users, but the default is to only install for the current user.
Upgrading a previous installation:
Note that double-clicking ChordEase.msi won't work: you will get the message "Another version of this product is already installed". If you're connected to the Internet, you can upgrade to the latest version via Help/Check for Updates.