The end to frustration! (Download Accelerator Plus)

Member Name: weebagpuss

Product:	Download Accelerator Plus
Date:	24/08/01 (524 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Resume downloads, Faster downloading

Disadvantages: Ads if you don't register

If you frequently download from the internet, then there are two essential utilities that you will need to use. Firstly, a virus killer, and secondly, a download management program such as the one I am reviewing here, Download Accelerator Plus (DAP). The version that I am using is version 5.00, which I think is the most up to date one there is.

Whilst there are several download management programs about, all of which are free to download, I would recommend this one above all the rest. You might have heard of rival programs such as Gozilla, but several of these install spyware along with the download management program, and if you remove the spyware, then they will not always function correctly. I don’t know about you, but there’s no way I’m allowing any spyware to enter my system – I inadvertently installed some a while ago, and it kept causing my system to crash. Furthermore, I don’t like the idea that data is being collected on my computer usage, it’s all a bit too much like Big Brother for me!

With DAP, you’re free from any spyware. To get a copy of the program, go to a site such as downloads.com, or www.speedbit.com, (the official site) and, seeing as this is such a popular program, chances are it will be on the front page. Installation is easy – the file is relatively small to download, and you simply run the program and it will install itself. You are then given the choice of whether you want the program to start every time windows starts, or whether you’d rather activate it yourself. I have so much clutter in my systems tray that I choose to start it up myself. This is not exactly difficult, since it integrates very well with internet explorer, and if you right click on the name of the file you wish to download, you are presented with the option to use DAP to download it. Either that, or if you’ve not changed any of the options, it will it will automatically activate itself when y
ou download EXE, ZIP, MP3, ARJ, RAR, LZH, Z, GZ, GZIP, TAR, BIN, MP3, AVI or MPG files.

So what are the advantages of using DAP? Well, there are two main advantages. Firstly, the ability to resume downloads. I can’t stress the importance of this enough. It is so frustrating to have almost finished downloading a file, and then for your connection to be lost – either through the ISP’s own cut-off time, a computer crash, or occasionally, someone trying to ring you if you share an internet and phone line (although I believe that this problem has largely been eliminated now – when I first got the internet it drove me mad!) With DAP, if this happens, providing that resume is supported by the place you are downloading from (most of the time it is) then when you reconnect, you can simply continue your download from where you left off. I find this very useful since my modem is only 56K, and some of the programmes I download can be 20MB and more.

You can pause downloads, schedule them for a time that suits you, and even get the computer to dial up itself and download something you have scheduled for later. This could be useful if you have 24/7 free net access, as you could do a lot of downloading when you were out at work, or at night whilst you were sleeping, without slowing down your surfing speeds. You can also choose for your computer to disconnect, or even to shut down, once the download has completed! It’s great to be able to set it up and just walk away! It’s also useful to be able to pause a download if you are actually using the net, as downloading will make your general surfing speed slow down quite a bit. If you suddenly realise you need to use the net for something quickly then simply pause the download, do your business on the net, then resume it once you’ve finished. It is possible to download several files at once – useful if you have a speedy connection, or do as I do, which is to queue them u
p so that when one has finished, another starts.

The other main advantage is the ‘acceleration’ part. To be honest, on a 56K modem, I haven’t noticed much of an increase in speed, but I believe the results are much more impressive if you are using something much faster. The way it works is to find ‘mirror’ sites which contain the exact same file as the one you are downloading, and then to download simultaneously from them, to boost the speed of download. It’s also possible to switch sites if one appears to be sluggish. When you choose to download a file, you are informed of the speed it is likely to download at – though quite often, for me, there’s little difference between sluggish and good, since my connection is so slow anyway! How I long for faster access to the net – better wait until I win the lottery first though! However, even though the acceleration features are limited by my modem speed, it is still more efficient, and when combined with the resume feature, makes this an invaluable utility.

Other features of the program include the ability to change the directories that you download into, the opportunity to run a program as soon as it has downloaded, and the use of the download basket, which is a small window that you can have in front of your browser window, and then you can drag files from the browser into the window. This program is very easy to use, and the user interface won’t take much getting used to. I find it easier to use than Gozilla! which would always make those funny roaring sounds when it had completed a file! There are no sounds set automatically on DAP, although you can customise it and add sounds of your own if you so desire.

Help is available by going to the FAQ page, a link to the website for the program which, as the name suggests, provides you with answers to the most frequently asked questions about the product. If your question is not answered,
then you can email the support team. I haven’t tried this as you don’t exactly have to be Einstein to use DAP, and everything seems fairly self-explanatory.

Because this a free program, there is one negative point to mention – the adverts. I can’t stand advertising, there is so much of it about and to be honest I do wonder if it really does much good, since I’m sure that the majority of people are like me and simply ignore it. However, if you register, these ads will be removed. I registered to remove the ads, because I only have a 56k connection, and I’m sure that some bandwidth must be wasted by sending the ads to my machine.

Overall, this is a fantastic little program that every downloader should have in their collection. Seeing as it’s free, there’s not really any excuse not to have it! Yesterday for example, through the use of download accelerator, even on my 56K connection, I managed to download several games, a well known anti-virus utility, and a couple of updates to other programs. Right now as I type this op, I am waiting for paintshop pro 7 to download – this comes in 4 files of just over 7MB each, so both the queue and the resume facility are incredibly useful! Think I’ll just pause it whilst I post my op though…

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