CD/RW play on CDRom

I have an older comp that has a CD rom that just plays CD’s. (Microsoft CD player Win98, no dvd or RW) I used a friends comp, who has CD/RW, to down load some programs,( anti-virus, update programs etc). Can I install these programs using my run-or-the-mill CD rom? Ive been told I can by creating a destination folder and copying programs to the folder and install from there. Others say this is impossible. Please advise. Thank you