The same question came up at Module Installs, and the answer is simple (read the thread anyway, lots of useful information), you need to "search" before you can "install".

I will now quote from the PPM faq:

How Do I use PPM?

Quick start: at the PPM command prompt, type search * to get a listing of all available packages, then type install <package name>, where <package name> is the name of a package displayed by the search command. To list the packages you have previously installed using PPM, use the query * command. Those using PPM can type 'search' to get a listing of all available packages, then type 'install <packagename>', where <packagename> is the name of a package displayed by the 'search' command. To list the packages you have previously installed using PPM, use the 'query' command.

Make sense?

On the other hand, is if you simply

C:\>ppm3
PPM - Programmer's Package Manager version 3.0 beta 3.
Copyright (c) 2001 ActiveState SRL. All Rights Reserved.

Entering interactive shell. Using Term::ReadLine::Stub as readline lib
+rary.

Profile tracking is not enabled. If you save and restore profiles manu
+ally,
your profile may be out of sync with your computer. See 'help profile'
+ for
more information.

Type 'help' to get started.

ppm> install Net-Telnet
====================
Install 'Net-Telnet' version 3.02 in ActivePerl 5.6.1.631.
====================
Downloaded 41868 bytes.
Extracting package. This may take a few seconds.
Extracting 19/19: blib/html/site/lib/Net/Telnet.html
Installing C:\Perl\html\site\lib\Net\Telnet.html
Installing C:\Perl\site\lib\Net\Telnet.pm
Writing C:\Perl\site\lib\auto\Net\Telnet\.packlist
ppm>
[download]

you will not have such problems (apparently too many people were confused by the fact that you needed to search before you could attempt to install successfully).

**note: do not mix ppm and ppm3, they don't play well together (i'd just stick to ppm3, cause it's about 5 times better)

Good reading: How to Read The Friendly Manual
 

Look ma', I'm on CPAN.

---

** The Third rule of perl club is a statement of fact: pod is sexy.