How Do Download Accelerators Work?
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Downloading files is part of the ongoing process of getting information to your computer. You may be downloading pictures of your friends and family, music files, games or documents but all of these files require you to capture them and place them on your computer. Pictures and music files are very large files, which can take hours to download. Enter download accelerators that speed up the download to a fraction of the time it would otherwise take.
How it Works
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The download accelerator works by optimizing the connection between your computer and the download site. It does not actually make the download go faster; it just takes advantage of processing the information advantageously. If the file is large, a download accelerator will break it into parts and downloads each part simultaneously. Many sites limit bandwidth to a single entity, which means the download will take longer. By breaking the file into parts, the download accelerator actually logs into the site many times and uses the limited bandwidth that is allowed per each connection. The result is that the overall download happens much faster. The site thinks it is different entities accessing and allows the multiple downloads to happen at the same time.
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Interruptions
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The download accelerator also picks up where it left off if the download is interrupted. It can be very frustrating to a user to spend hours downloading a file only to have their computer crash near the end. They must start over and wait hours again. A download accelerator "remembers" where in the download process it was when it was kicked out so the user only needs to reestablish the connection and finish the last few minutes of the download.
Features
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Download accelerators may be programmed to download programs and files when the person is away from the computer. The advantage to this is when the person returns the download is complete. Do your downloading at anytime, even when you are sleeping. Most download accelerators will work with any type of computer and any operating system. Most will work with dial-up or broadband connections. You can configure your download accelerator to work with your proxy server if you use one. Proxy servers are a way to connect to the Internet without anyone knowing your real IP address. The download accelerator will use your proxy address to download your files so your identity will remain protected.
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