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