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