rmoving "Congratulations! You have successfully installed your Zen Cart™ E-Commerce

I have read all the FAQ's and other threads, but I still cant work out how to change the welcome message. Can I do it via admin, or do I need software like smart ftp.

Can anyone help me please?

http://www.zen-cart.com/wiki/index.php/Top_10_questions

or here

www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=129

Unzip the download onto your local drive (you don't have to be able to run it locally, you just need to edit the files).

Locate the file you want/need to edit and copy it into a folder for your custom template. Anywhere you see a /classic/ folder, you can create a folder for your custom template. Copy the necessary files from either the /classic/ or /template_default/ folders.

Upload the changed folder/file to where you installed ZC and select the template from your admin under tools->template selection.

To create a very basic custom template (you can build from there), you need:
includes/languages/YOUR_TEMPLATE/english.php
includes/languages/english/YOUR_TEMPLATE/index.php
includes/languages/english/YOUR_TEMPLATE/header.php (to change the logo)
includes/templates/YOUR_TEMPLATE/template_info.php
includes/templates/YOUR_TEMPLATE/common/tpl_header.php
includes/templates/YOUR_TEMPLATE/images/logo.gif
includes/templates/YOUR_TEMPLATE/css/stylesheet.css

thanks for your help, but i still cant find the section with all the files in it. Are the files in zen cart admin?

thanks

NO
you need to login using your ftp
open the files structure that AFO outlined

I must be really stupid LOL, how do I unzip the download onto my hard drive, by download I assume you mean the zen cart programme.

Are you using Windows? You need something like WinZip to unzip the download on your machine. Once you do that, you'll see the directory structure like the one I outlined earlier. Once you build your custom template (or at least start it), you need an FTP client to upload it to the website where you'll be using ZC.

thanks for all the help so far AFO, but im still finding it difficult, I am using windows and I have winzip already on my computer, i think zencart is saved direct onto a server,and not my desk top, and I cant find a way of opening it in winzip or any other software, is there a special way of doing it. Thanks

You'll have to download the zip file yourself. Get the latest one (you'll see what I mean when you click the link). Unzip it onto your hard drive. Once you do that, you'll understand some of the references.