Downloading and installing emacs on a computer running Windows

(1) Create a folder in which to install emacs, such as "c:/emacs"
(2) Download gunzip-1.2.4-i386.exe (Gnu's Unzip) and tar-1.11.2a.exe 
(3) Download emacs-20.7-fullbin-i386.tar.gz from
ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/windows/emacs/latest/emacs-20.7-fullbin-i386.tar.gz

(4) rename gunzip-1.2.4-i386.exe as simply gunzip.exe, and tar-1.11.2a.exe as simply tar.exe (this is just for ease of typing in the next step)
(5) Run command prompt (Startup->Programs->Command Prompt)
(6) type: cd c:\emacs
(7) type: gunzip -c emacs-20.7-fullbin-i386.tar.gz | tar xvf -
(for some reason on my machine after downloading the emacs files was renamed as emacs-20.7-fullbin-i386.tar.tar, so I used that name instead of emacs-20.7-fullbin-i386.tar.gz)
(8) run (double click on) addpm.exe in the "bin" folder inside where you installed emacs. (e.g., c:\emacs\emacs-20.7\bin\addpm.exe)
(9) done!

-----------
Downloading and installing ESS on a computer running Windows

(1) Read these sections of the R-FAQ: Emacs support for R; Should I run R from within Emacs
(2) Download ESS-5.1.18.zip to, say, c:/emacs/ess.
(3) unzip ESS-5.1.18.zip, this creates a folder called ess-5.1.18
(4) edit lisp/ess-site.el inside the ess-5.1.18 folder that just got created when you unzipped
(5) Find the following line, and uncomment it (i.e., remove the first two semicolons)

;;(setq-default inferior-R-program-name "Rterm") ; msdos system

(6) save the file
(7) open a file called .emacs (that's dot-e-m-a-c-s) in c:\ (and if it doesn't exist, create it)
(8) Add the following line to .emacs (including the parentheses, important in LISP)

(load "c:/emacs/ess-5.1.18/lisp/ess-site")

(8) Tell Windows where to find Rterm.exe by adding to the PATH environment variable the folder in which Rterm.exe sits (for more detail, read the README in the ESS directory you unzipped)

On Windows 9x, add the location of the folder that contains Rterm.exe to your `c:\autoexec.bat' file. For example, add a line like this (appropriately adjusted to reflect where you put your Rterm.exe):

path=%PATH%;c:\progra~1\R\bin

On Windows NT/2000, add the directories to the PATH variable using Control Panel->system->Environment. (Be sure to use the abbreviation `progra~1' and not the long version with embedded blanks. Use backslashes "\").

(9) Done.

------

Using R from inside Emacs (see Should I run R from within Emacs)

(1) Start Emacs
(2) type esc-R
(3) if asked for an initial data directory, specify where you want it to be (totally up to you)
(4) Enjoy!