A download manager is a Free Download Software computer program dedicated to the task of downloading (and sometime uploading) possibly unrelated stand-alone files from (and sometime to) the Internet for storage. This is unlike a World Wide Web browser, which is mainly intended to browse web pages, composed of a multitude of smaller files, where error-free moving of files for permanent storage Free Download Software is of Free Download Software secondary importance. (A failed or incomplete web page file rarely ruins the page.) The typical download manager at a minimum provides Omnipage Demo Download means to recover from errors without losing the work already completed, and can optionally split the file to be downloaded (or uploaded) into 2 or more segments, which are then moved in Free Download Software parallel, potentially making the process faster within the limits of the available bandwidth. (A few servers are known to block moving Free Download Software files in parallel segments, on the principle that server capacity should be shared equally by all users.) Multi-source is the name given to files that are downloaded in parallel.
There are several things that some web browsers are not very good at. That's where the download managers enter Free Download Software the equation:
Pausing the Free Download Software downloading of large files.
Resuming broken Free Download Software or paused downloads (especially for very large files).
Downloading Free Download Software files on poor connections.
Downloading several Download Dvd Decrypter files from a site automatically according to simple rules (file types, updated files, etc. - Free Download Software see Free Download Software also Offline Browser).
Automatic recursive downloads (mirroring).
Scheduled downloads (including, Free Download Software automatic hang-up and shutdown).
Searching for mirror sites, and the handling of different connections to download Free Download Software the same file more quickly (segmented downloading).
Download managers are useful for active Internet users. For dial-up users, Free Download Software they can automatically dial the internet service provider at night, when rates or tariffs are usually lower, download Free Download Software the specified files, Free Download Software 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 Free Download Software large files by resuming broken downloads, by limiting the bandwidth used, so that other internet activities are not affected (slowed) and the server is Free Download Software not overloaded, or Free Download Software by automatically navigating a site and downloading pre-specified Free Download Software content Free Download Software (photo galleries, MP3 collections, etc.) this can also include automatically downloading Free Download Software whole sites and regularly updating them (see Mirroring).
Many download managers support Metalink, an XML file Free Download Software listing mirrors, checksums, and other information useful for downloading.
See below Free Download Software for some examples of commonly used download managers. Some downloaders are optimized for a certain function. For example, Offline Explorer is designed Free Download Software to download Free Download Software entire websites.
Download managers, such Free Download Software as Go!Zilla, Free Download Software were Free Download Software among the first adware applications Free Download Software displaying a Free Download Software banner ad in the user interface.
Related to download managers are two other breeds Free Download Software of Internet programs, file-sharing peer-to-peer Free Download Software applications Free Download Software (Kazaa, eMule, Free Download Software BitTorrent, Gnutella) and Free Download Software stream recorders Free Download Software (such as Free Download Software StreamBox VCR).
While download Free Download Software managers are designed to give users greater control over downloads, some downloaders are created Free Download Software to give that control to content distributors instead. Some software companies, for example Adobe [1], provide such downloaders Free Download Software for downloading software Free Download Software on their own site. Presumably this increases reliability and reduces tech support costs to them. A possible reason Free Download Software is increasing the control over redistribution of their software (even when the software Free Download Software is freeware).In computer technology and telecommunication, on-line and off-line are defined by Federal Standard 1037C. They are states or conditions of a "device or equipment" Free Download Software or of "a Free Download Software functional unit". To Free Download Software be considered on-line, a device must be at least one of:
"Under the direct control of another device"
"Under the direct control of the system with which it is Free Download Software associated"
"Available for immediate use on demand by the system without human intervention"
"Connected to a Free Download Software system, and is in operation"
"Functional and ready for service"
while a device that is off-line is not (e.g. it has "its main power source disconnected or turned off", and is "off-power").
One example of a common use of these concepts is a Mail User Agent that can be instructed to be in either "on-line" or "off-line" states. One such MUA is Microsoft Outlook. When it is Free Download Software "on-line" it will attempt to connect to mail Free Download Software servers (to check for new mail at regular intervals, for example), and when it is "off-line" it will not attempt to make any Free Download Software such connections. The "on-line" or "off-line" state Free Download Software of the MUA Free Download Software does not necessarily reflect Free Download Software the connection status between the computer on which it is running and Free Download Software Internet. The user may have the computer itself on-line, connected to Internet via a cable modem or Free Download Software an ADSL connection, but may wish for Outlook to Free Download Software be off-line, so that it makes no attempt to send or to receive messages. Or the Free Download Software computer Free Download Software may be configured to employ a dial-up connection Free Download Software on demand (whenever an application such as Outlook attempts to make connection to a server), Free Download Software but the connection may be an expensive telephone call from the particular location in which the computer currently happens to be (such as a hotel room) and the user may not wish Outlook to trigger making that call every 5 or 10 minutes to check for mail.[1]
Another example of the use of these concepts is Free Download Software in Free Download Software the world of digital audio technology. A tape recorder, digital editor, or other device that is "on-line" Free Download Software is Free Download Software one whose clock is under the control of Free Download Software the clock of a "synchronization master" device. When the sync master commences playback, the Free Download Software "on-line" device automatically synchronizes itself to the master and commences playing from the same point in the recording. Whereas a device that is "off-line" uses no external clock reference and relies upon its own internal clock. When Free Download Software a large number of devices are connected to a sync master, it is often convenient, if Free Download Software one wants to hear just the output of one single device, to take it off-line, because Free Download Software if the device Free Download Software is played back on-line all synchronized devices have Download Quran Recitation From Sudais to locate the playback point and wait for each Free Download Software other Free Download Software to be in synchronization.[2] (For further related discussion, Free Download Software see MIDI timecode, word sync, and recording system synchronization.)
A third example of Free Download Software a common use of these concepts is a web browser that can be instructed to be Free Download Software in either "on-line" Free Download Software or Free Download Software "off-line" states. The browser only attempts Free Download Software to fetch pages Free Download Software from servers whilst in the "on-line" state. In Free Download Software the "off-line" state, users can perform offline browsing, where pages can be browsed using local copies of Free Download Software those pages that have Free Download Software previously been downloaded Free Download Software whilst Free Download Software in the "on-line" state. This Free Download Software can be Free Download Software useful when Free Download Software the Free Download Software computer itself is also off-line, Free Download Software with connection to Internet expensive or Free Download Software impossible. The pages are either downloaded implicitly into the web browser's own cache, as Free Download Software a result of prior on-line browsing by the user, or explicitly by the browser being configured to keep local copies of certain web pages, which it keeps updated when the browser is in the on-line state, either by Free Download Software checking that the local Free Download Software copies are Free Full Version Games Download up-to-date at regular intervals or by checking that the local copies are up-to-date Free Download Software whenever the browser is switched to the on-line state. One such web browser capable of being explicitly configured Free Download Software to download pages for offline browsing Free Download Software is Internet Explorer. When pages are added to the "Favourites" list, they can be marked for Free Download Software being Free Download Software made "available for offline browsing". Internet Explorer Free Download Software will download to local Free Download Software copies both the marked page and, optionally, all of the pages that it links to. In Internet Explorer version 6, the level of direct and Free Download Software indirect links, the maximum amount Free Download Software of local disc space allowed to be consumed, and the schedule on which local copies are checked to see whether they are up-to-date, are configurable for each individual "Favourite" entry.
See also:
Offline browsing known as "Offline favourites" was removed as a feature in the most recent version of Internet Explorer 7, which only now supports single web page saving, Free Download Software but not Free Download Software browsing or storing an entire site offline.[citation needed]
Similarly, off-line storage is Free Download Software computer storage that is not "available for immediate use on demand Free Download Software by the system without human Free Download Software intervention", i.e Linux Download Free Full it is storage that is off-line.
The ideas of Free Download Software "on-line" and "off-line" have been generalized from computing and telecommunication into the field of human interpersonal relationships. The distinction between what is considered "on-line" and what is considered "off-line" Free Download Software has become a subject of study in the field of sociology.[7]
The distinction Free Download Software between "on-line" and "off-line" is conventionally seen as Free Download Software the distinction between computer-mediated communication and Free Download Software face-to-face communication (e.g. Free Download Software face time), respectively. "On-line" is virtuality, and "off-line" is reality (e.g. real life or meatspace). Slater states that this distinction is "obviously far too simple". To support his argument that the distinctions in relationships are more complex than a simple "on-line"/"off-line" dichotomy, he observes that Aim Pro Free Download some people draw no distinction between Free Download Software an "on-line" relationship, such as indulging in cybersex, and an "off-line" relationship, such as being pen-pals. Free Download Software He also argues that even Free Download Software the telephone can be regarded as an "on-line" experience in Free Download Software some circumstances, and that the blurring of Free Download Software the distinctions between the uses of various technologies (such as PDA and mobile telephone, television and Free Download Software Internet, and telephone and voice-over-IP) has made it "impossible to use the term 'on-line' meaningfully in the sense that was employed by the first generation of Internet research".[7]
Slater asserts Free Download Software that there are legal and regulatory pressures to reduce the distinction between Free Download Software "on-line" and "off-line", with a "general tendency to assimilate online to Free Download Software offline and erase the distinction", stressing, however, that Free Download Software this does not mean that Free Download Software on-line relationships are being reduced to pre-existing off-line relationships. He conjectures that greater legal status may be assigned to on-line relationships (pointing out that contractual relationships, such as business transactions, on-line are already seen as just as "real" as their off-line counterparts), although he states Free Download Software it to be hard to Free Download Software imagine courts awarding Free Download Software palimony to Free Download Software people who have had a purely on-line sexual relationship. He also conjectures that an "on-line"/"off-line" distinction may Free Download Software be seen by people as "rather Free Download Software quaint and not quite comprehensible" within 10 years.[7]
The distinction where "on-line" is seen as virtuality and "off-line" as reality Free Download Software is sometimes inverted, with "on-line" Free Download Software concepts Free Download Software being used to define and to explain "off-line" activities, rather than (as per the conventions of the desktop metaphor with its desktops, trash cans, folders, and so Free Download Software forth) the other way around. Several cartoons by The New Yorker have satirized this. One includes Saint Peter asking for a user name and a password before admitting a Free Download Software man into Heaven. Another illustrates "the off-line store" where "All items are actual size!", where shoppers may "Take it home Free Download Software as Free Download Software soon as you pay for it!", and where "Merchandise may be handled prior to Free Download Software purchase!". |
