(installation for XP is identical except that the location of the downloads directory on your computer will be different).
Install the latest version of Adobe Reader. This will download a file with a name like AdbeRdr910_en_US.exe to you downloads directory (unless you have changed the preferences on your web browser, all files you download will go to the folder named "downloads" in your home folder).
Locate the AdbeRdr910_en_US.exe that you just downloaded and run it by double-clicking on the icon. Follow the instructions that appear on your screen to install Adobe Reader.
Download GhostScript from the GPL GhostScript Site; the file you want is all the way at the bottom of the page where it says "Microsoft Windows". Select either gs864w32.exe (if you have 32 bit Windows) or gs864w64.exe (if you have 64 bit Windows).
Locate the gxw864wXX.exe program you just downloaded and double-click on it to install GhostScript. Follow the instructions given.
Download GSView from the GSView Download Site The file you want is either gsv49w32.exe (Win 32) (for 32 bit Windows) or gsv49w64.exe (Win 64 x86_64) (for 64 bit Windows).
Locate the gsv49wXX.exe file you just downloaded and run it by double-clicking to install GSView. Follow the instructions given.
Download Texmaker. File: texmakerwin32_install.exe When prompted, click on "save file"
Locate the file texmakerwin32_install.exe that you have just downloaded and double-click on it to install texmaker. This will create teh Texmaker application which is the only program you will run directly. It should put a TexMaker Icon in your start menu (under All Programs).
For help and additional information about texmaker, see the Texmaker Web Site
Locate the setup-2.7.xxxx.exe file that you just downloaded; it will probably be in the downloads folder in your home directory. Run this program; when asked, select "Download MiKTeX." This will download the main Latex Files, which is a very large download (around 700 MB) and will take a while to complete. When the download is finished you should have a "MiKTeX 2.7 Setup" folder in your downloads directory.
Run the setup-2.7.xxxx.exe program a SECOND time. This time when you are asked, select "Install MiKTeX" and then "Complete MiKTeX". When it asks for "MiKTeX Distribution Directory" use the to find the "MiKTeX 2.7 Setup" folder you created in the previous step.
Start TexMaker by selecting it from the Start menu. Along the top of the TexMaker window, select "Options" then "Configure TexMaker". Clik on the "TEX" commands on the left and then check the "Pdf Viewer" program on the 4th line from the bottom. Make sure it points correctly to Adobe Reader (if often does not). You can use the browse button to find it. The most likely location is "C://Program Files (x86)/Adobe/Reader 9.0/Reader/AcroRd32.exe %.pdf" (you need to have the space followed by %.pdf written after the .exe to make it work properly.
Your installation is complete. To verify it works, open TexMaker. Click: File>New, then File>Save and create a file name that ends in ".tex" (the file type is very important). Then select Wizard > QuickStart and click OK. Type a sentence between the \begin{document} and \end{document}. Then seltect PDFLatex from the drop down menu next to one of the blue arrows at the top of the screen. If it says "Process Exited Normally" then your latex ran ok. To see the output click on "View PDF" from the second blue arrow at the top of the screen. If you have a problem here, then either Adobe is not installed or TexMaker is not configured properly (see previous step).