Relax, you probably already have .NET installed.
For Snowball to run, you have to have the Microsoft .NET 2.0 framework installed. The .NET framework is a free supplement to the Windows operating system, and is probably already installed. Starting with Microsoft Vista, .NET is preinstalled with the operating system. The Snowball Setup program automatically checks for .NET, but you can also check and do the installation manually first if you prefer.
Checking for .NET:
You may already have .NET installed because of other programs you are running on Windows. The quickest way to check and see if it’s already there is to do the following:
Select ‘Run’ in the Windows Start Menu (or press ‘Windows Key + R’).
In the Run dialog type ‘Microsoft.NET’ (without the ‘ quotes) and press the ‘Ok’ button.
If .NET is installed, an Windows Explorer folder will be opened.
If the .NET folder shows up, to find out what version you have, double-click the ‘Framework’ folder.
As you can see, it’s possible to have several different versions of .NET installed simultaneously, but it’s version 2.0 (highlighted above) that has to be there for Snowball to work.
Installing .NET 2.0:
Go to to Microsofts’ download page and press the 
button:
When your Internet browser download window appears, select the desktop or a folder location you can remember to download, and once it’s done, run the program dotnetfx.exe to install.
