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A download manager is a computer program designed to download files from the Internet, unlike a web browser, which is mainly intended to browse webpages on the World Wide Web (with file downloading being of secondary importance). Image File history File links Circle-question. ... A computer program is a collection of instructions that describe a task, or set of tasks, to be carried out by a computer. ... This article is about the computer terms. ... An example of a web browser (Internet Explorer), displaying the English Wikipedia main page. ... A webpage or web page is a page of the World Wide Web, usually in HTML/XHTML format (the file extensions are typically htm or html) and with hypertext links to enable navigation from one page or section to another. ... WWWs historical logo designed by Robert Cailliau The World Wide Web (or the Web) is a system of interlinked, hypertext documents accessed via the Internet. ...

Features

There are several things that some web browsers are not very good at. That's where the download managers enter the equation:

• Pausing the downloading of large files.
• Resuming broken or paused downloads (especially for very large files).
• Downloading files on poor connections.
• Downloading several files from a site automatically according to simple rules (file types, updated files, etc. - see also Offline Browser).
• Automatic recursive downloads (mirroring).
• Scheduled downloads (including, automatic hang-up and shutdown).
• Searching for mirror sites, and the handling of different connections to download the same file more quickly (Segmented downloading).

Download managers are useful for active Internet users. For dial-up users, they can automatically dial the internet service provider at night, when rates or tariffs are usually lower, download the specified files, and hang-up. They can record which links the user clicks on during the day, and queue these files for later download. For broadband users, download managers can help download very large files by resuming broken downloads, by limiting the download capacity used, so that the user's browsing is not affected much and the server is not overloaded, or by automatically browsing a site and downloading content specified by user (photo galleries, MP3 collections, etc.), including automatically downloading whole sites and regularly updating them. This article is about the computer terms. ... Many modern web browsers have a mode called offline browsing, where links to web pages are redirected to local copies in a temporary folder. ... A mirror in computing is a direct copy of a data set. ... DORIAN OKEREKE IKENNA! Come and take your meat! Dorians real name is Ikenna, so dont be fooled. ... Dial-up access is a form of Internet access through which the client uses a modem connected to a computer and a telephone line to dial into an Internet service providers (ISP) node to establish a modem-to-modem link, which is then routed to the Internet. ... “ISP” redirects here. ...

Most download managers today integrate seamlessly with popular web browsers, and are extremely easy to use. Clicking on a link in a browser automatically starts the download in the download manager. One of the most popular Firefox extensions, called FlashGot, provides the open source browser with even better integration and fine grained control over the external download manager. For power users, additional features are available, such as scheduling, traffic shaping, virus-checking, and cataloguing. Another highly popular download manager for Firefox is DownThemAll, a non-intrusive, free extension that claims to provide speed increases of up to 400% for its users from content providers that allow for multi-source downloads. Firefox may refer to: Firefox (novel), written by Craig Thomas, published in 1978 Firefox (film), the 1982 movie starring Clint Eastwood, based on the novel Firefox (arcade game), the laserdisc arcade game based on the movie Mozilla Firefox, a web browser The Red Fox or the Red Panda, based on... FlashGot is a free Mozilla extension meant to handle single and massive (all and selection) downloads with several external download managers. ... Firefox may refer to: Firefox (novel), written by Craig Thomas, published in 1978 Firefox (film), the 1982 movie starring Clint Eastwood, based on the novel Firefox (arcade game), the laserdisc arcade game based on the movie Mozilla Firefox, a web browser The Red Fox or the Red Panda, based on... DownThemAll is a mass download manager extention Mozilla Firefox. ...

See below for some examples of commonly used download managers. Some downloaders are optimized for a certain function. For example, Offline Explorer is designed to download entire websites. Offline Explorer is a program which scans a webpage and downloads all files linked to it, with customizable filters. ...

Download managers, such as Go!Zilla, were among the first adware applications displaying a banner ad in the user interface. Go!Zilla is a proprietary download manager that grants a 30 day trial. ... WhenU adware displaying ads on a Windows desktop. ... A banner is a flag or other piece of cloth bearing a symbol, logo, slogan or other message. ...

Related to download managers are two other breeds of Internet programs, file-sharing peer-to-peer applications (Kazaa, eMule, BitTorrent, Gnutella) and stream recorders (such as StreamBox VCR). A peer-to-peer (or P2P) computer network is a network that relies on the computing power and bandwidth of the participants in the network rather than concentrating it in a relatively few servers. ... Kazaa Media Desktop (once capitalized as KaZaA, but now usually left as Kazaa) is a controversial peer-to-peer file sharing application using the FastTrack protocol. ... eMule is a peer-to-peer file sharing application for Microsoft Windows. ... BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer file sharing (P2P) communications protocol. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Stream recorder, also called a stream ripper, is a computer program capable of saving data stream (containing for instance encoded music or video from a radio or a TV channel respectively) to a file instead of playing it straightaway. ...

While download managers are designed to give users greater control over downloads, some downloaders are created to give that control to content distributors instead. Some software companies, for example Adobe [1], provide such downloaders for downloading software on their own site. Presumably this increases reliability and reduces tech support costs to them. A possible reason is increasing the control over redistribution of their software (even when the software is freeware). This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

See also

• List of download managers
• Comparison of download managers
• Offline browsing

The following is a list of download managers. ... // List of download managers Categories: | ... Look up offline, online in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

External links

• Speed Spark download manager. No adware and no spyware.
• Review of download managers (this article is from 2003)