configuring CIII with flash memory and microcontroller

Hi All,

I have a very basic question concerning Cyclone III configuration with flash memory. This is my first project ever :O and I use a board designed and assembled on my own.

How do I shift*.pof (or *.sof ? ) file produced by Quartus to the flash memory? I will be using a microntroller for CIII configuration and I use USART to communicate with a PC, is this helpful?

I know when the file is already in the memory this is quite easy to shift it to FPGA device.

Any help would be appreciated (some links? I couldn't google anything helpful :( )