Using a Download Accelerator

There are times when you may want to download several large files from the internet. But you don’t want to wait for them to be downloaded. The answer is to use a “download accelerator” program. This speeds up downloads, even on a dial-up internet service. It will also manage multiple downloads while you are away from your computer.

Understanding your download requirements

Many people may just need to download small files often and maybe a large file now and then. They are doing fine. A download accelerator will not be of much use to them.

Others download larger, compressed files more often. They have high speed internet and are doing just fine without an accelerator.

Some are on dial-up or limited high speed internet. This may be a financial choice or they may live in an area where this is their only option. They download compressed files often enough that they get frustrated by the download times. An accelerator will help them.

Then there those who want to download many large files every day. They download freebie tutorials or purchased tutorials with videos. Tutorials containing videos or a large number of screenshots in text format can be very lengthy to download. Even with high speed internet, they download so much that they need an accelerator program not only to speed up their downloads, but also to manage the volume of downloads.

Understanding Download Speeds

The speed at which files are transferred to your computer are based a number of things:

• Type of internet connection.
• Size and type of the file being downloaded.
• Location of the file & any restrictions on that site.
• Volume of traffic on your internet server or at the file location.

Small, simple files can be downloaded on high speed service, by e-mail or late at night in the blink of an eye. That is because the internet connection is fast or the file is small and also the fact that internet traffic lines are usually not that busy late at night.

However, if you have dial-up service and try to download a very large zipped file from a website midday, it takes forever to download. The reasons for this, among others are:

• The main and most frustrating reason is because dial-up is a very slow connection.
• The file is huge.
• The load on the website site may be high.
• The website or server being used may set speed restrictions on large files.
• Everyone is trying to use the internet lines at the same time.

An accelerator will not turn dial-up service into high speed service. However, without an accelerator, only half of any computer’s full potential is being used even under the best internet conditions. An accelerator tries to use all of your computer’s potential whether you are on dial up or high speed. It will increase your speed by increments. You get faster downloads that use less internet time.

How Servers Work

When you connect to the internet you are not directly connected to a specific website. Your computer connection is going through a server somewhere. This is like a highway interchange system that sends you where you want to go. There may be a variety of ways to get there but, if you are driving a car, you can only take one road at a time. The interchange choice which you take may not always be the best use of your time (think road construction, accidents, rush hour, detours, etc.).

Unlike road travel, cyberspace travel is a bit different. In fact, it is more like the transportation device on Star Trek. In that television show, people stand in a machine that breaks them apart into tiny bits. It then scatters and sends out these bits through a number of different routes all at once. Then it puts them all together again at their destination of choice. And it only takes a few seconds.

If you could use such a scrambling device along with your computer, you could literally “beam down” your file requests in a fraction of the time.

What are Download Accelerators

A download accelerator can transfer parts of a large file using multiple servers. It uses many channels whenever possible. Then it reassembles the file on your computer. It is like a Star Trek transportation device for files.

These accelerators can increase download speed anywhere from 200-400%. However, this will vary based on the volume of cyber traffic at any time. Cyberspace can get crowded in any part of the world just because of the sheer volume of people using it at certain times.

There are some limits to the use of these programs. Sometimes they don’t cope well with very small files such as single jpgs. Those files may be so small that the accelerator can’t split and reassemble them. Sometimes accelerators can handle simple files and sometimes they can’t. Accelerators are best used to download large files and compressed files like rar and zip files. 

There are many accelerators available. Many offer limited "free trials" but have to be purchased after the trial expires. Some free accelerators are disguised malware. I have used both Get Right and Flash Get, but DAP is one of the best and most trusted of the free accelerators.

DAP Download Accelerator

DAP is freeware with a good reputation on the computer tech forums. It is not perfect but it is easy to use. One drawback is that it has some advertising. And, there are built-in “extras” that are automatically set up to be installed. However, if you are careful during installation, you can opt out of most of these extras. Also, Microsoft updates can interfere with downloads but you can change your computer settings to avoid this. DAP will work best with Internet Explorer. If you use Mozilla/Firefox as your browser, you may wish to switch to Internet Explorer to download and install DAP. There is a FAQ (frequently asked questions) section in the help menu where you will find additional notes about using DAP with Mozilla/Firefox.

After going through the initial installation steps, asking you to download, downloading the program, then click run to install the software. You will get a screen that shows the download happening. Just wait for it to finish. Next will be the security screen; click run.

On the installation wizard, the full installation will already be checked for you. Click next to go to the license agreement screen. Click accept.

The next screen is set up to automatically install the video downloader. Uncheck the install speedbit video downloader box and click next.

You will get a language screen set to the English default. If you want the DAP screens to be in another language, use the dropdown box to choose another language. Click next.

The activation box has one free and two paid options. The free option is not a trial. It is a fully functioning program. Ensure that the free version is checked. Click next.

The next step is the registration screen. You do not have to register. Delete the sample email address.  Leave the box blank. Uncheck the box regarding special offers. Click next.

You must opt out of other offers that you don’t need. Despite the fact that you opted out of the video downloader earlier, you have to do it here as well. Uncheck all of the boxes. Click next.

Finally the last screen saying the download is finished. Click finish. You may get a webpage flashing up. It says that that the installation is complete. Just close it.

DAP is made by Speedbit. They often hide things in their freeware to alter your internet home page to theirs. To get rid of this, exit the internet. Then open the internet again. If your usual home page appears, you need not do anything more. If the Speedbit home page appears, you will need to reset your home page. To do this, use your favourites or a search to get back to your preferred home page. Then go to the little drop down beside the house symbol at top right of your monitor. From the dropdown menu, click add or change home page. Change to the correct home page, click ok and then close the browser window.

Working with DAP Download Accelerator

You will find a DAP icon on your desktop. Delete this as it doesn’t have a DAP command specific menu attached to it. You will also find a DAP icon in your bottom tray on the right hand side of your monitor. This is what you will use to operate DAP. Right click on it to bring up the DAP menu. The first three options are the ones that you will use most often.

When you download something using DAP, you can turn DAP off and your accelerated download will still continue. Then you can download other files (i.e. single jpegs or psp images) without using DAP. And you can turn DAP back on again to download another huge file and then turn it off again for more simple files. In this way, DAP is more like a set of post-it notes that you stick to certain downloads. 

Meanwhile, you can use DAP to download other files as well. While you can queue up several dozen or  more to be downloaded, only 4 will be active at any time. DAP can scatter, download, and bring together only 4 at one time. As each download finishes, another will start to take its place. You can call up your download screen again and you will see a screen with four tabs, one tab for each of the 4 active files. The tab indicates how much of the file has been downloaded. Clicking on the tab will show how much time is left and the transfer rate for each.

Scheduling Downloads

The DAP status screen does have a scheduler. This is helpful if you are on dial up or are limited in the number of hours that your internet can be used. The scheduler lets you take advantage of night time downloads without any excess internet usage. However, if you are on unlimited internet, you may want to skip the scheduler and just leave the computer and modem on all night.  To set up scheduled downloads, click on the scheduler tab and then you will be in the scheduling screen. You can set the day and time for downloads to start and even to stop. You can also tell it to hang up the modem, quit DAP and shut off your computer. Check the options that you want.

Using DAP to download one file at a time will not have that much impact on other internet work that you are doing.. But, if you have a lot of really gigantic downloads to download, try and do them (with or without using the scheduler), at times when you do not have to be on the internet doing other things. Remember that DAP maximizes your internet connections in order to do the downloads. That means that, if you overextend DAP, you will have less of a chance at getting an internet connection. You likely will be still able to get through your email while DAP downloads several large files. However, you may find your email slower for this period and that individual email attachments are slower to load. This will be more noticeable during certain peak periods of the day and for those on dial up. So, always consider the size and number of the downloads that you want to schedule, either schedule them for a night time download while you sleep or start them before you tend to other non-computer interests during the day. Once you get used to the amount of time various numbers and size files take at different times of the day, you can make better use of your internet time for downloads.