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