you allow people to download elder scrolls arena off the website
but when i do and i click on the folder all it gives me is words of whats in the game
so what do i do once the file is downloaded

See if this helps.
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/479044-how-to-get-the-past-games-to-run/page__view__findpost__p__6876726