How do download accelerators work?

We encounter the words "Download Managers" and "Download Accelerators" quite often. But most of us do not know exactly what both of them do. Most people believe in a hoax that specific download accelerators would actually increase the speed of their dowloads while others do not. Let us first understand the major bottlenecks in 'good' downloading.







Major bottlenecks in 'good' downloading
* OS (Operating system) and network arc will not let your web browser (or any other program) utilize whole of the available bandwidth (speed) over a single connection. Download sites sometimes also restrict the download speed for a single connection.

* If a download server (download location) is heavily choked with users, its own network transaction speed with slow down and the downloading speed would be eventually decreased.

* Imagine yourself downloading a 300Mb program using a normal web application. Say, while you downloaded 95% of it, your internet connection temporarily fails or trips. 95% of the file will not make any sense to your computer and you will have to download it all again from starting, wasting the same time again.

What does a Download accelerator/manager do?
Download manager is a program that provides advanced features for downloading eg. Scheduling, Queuing, resuming and repairing of downloads etc. To generalize it, a download accelerator would be a part of a download manager program. A download accelerator may not actually 'accelerate' your downloads. Rather it will optimize the connections to provide you better downloading speed.

How does a download accelerator 'accelerate' a download?
A download accelerator will open multiple connections to a download server by requesting for different chunks (splits) of data, resulting in better download speed. It then would join all the chunks to give you the final downloaded file. Advanced download accelerators can also re-allocate the bandwidth for even better performance.

How does a download manager resume the download?
Referring to the above example, your download of 300Mb program stopped at 298844160th byte (say), while using a download manager with resume support. Now when you will use the 'Resume' feature, the download manager will request for the remaining chunk (or chunks) of data after 298844160 bytes hence maintaining the continuity of the data.

Acceleration and resuming may not work for all sites!
Many download sites do not provide multi-split downloading and resuming service because of their own authentication or performance strategy. Eg. Rapidshare like sites will provide download acceleration and resume support only to their permium users (who pay them).

Always resume support
Some premium programs like Download Accelerator Plus (DAP) offer 'Always resume support' for the sites which do not provide resuming and acceleration otherwise. You will have to pay for this service. Working of this service is conceptually very simple:
1. You request for AlwaysResume service for a download.
2. DAP software on your computer will contact their mother servers with necessary browser and session details (needed for authentication)
3. It will then find the nearest DAP leecher (downloader) from the download site.
4. DAP leecher will download the requested file on itself using a very fast connection.
5. Finally, your DAP software will then receive the file from DAP leecher instead of actual download site, providing you exclusive resuming and acceleration.

Make Youtube buffering 5X faster!!!

We all love Youtube and other online video sharing sites. That is a fact. But it is really irritating when we watch a video and it keeps on stopping after some time for buffering.

What is the reason for breaks in buffering/loading of online videos? 
This may be due to one or all of these reasons:
* Your internet connection may be slow
* Youtube might be restricting speed to protect their servers
* Your ISP/OS may be restricting speed per connection

Solution: Install any of these reputed software:
Bywifi: This one is may personal pick. A masterpiece software that accelerates online video buffering for Youtube like sites. Moreover, you do not need to wait for buffering if you come to watch a video again. It will start playing it from the disk. It is freeware and it is awesome!!! Download from CNET: http://download.cnet.com/Bywifi/3000-2071_4-10908883.html

Speedbit Video Accelerator: This is another software that accelerates online video buffering. It is provide free of cost by the makers of DAP (Download accelerator plus). To accelerate HD videos, you will have to buy pro version. Download from CNET: http://download.cnet.com/SpeedBit-Video-Accelerator/3000-13632_4-10774451.html

Enjoy faster videos! 

What is Defragmentation?

To understand the concept of defragmentation, let us first learn what is Fragmentation.


Fragmentation 

In simple language, when read-write processes takes place on disk, it is will cause breaking up of actual data into non-contiguous pieces.




Suppose we have a disk which can be pictorially represented as:

___________________________________

Now if we write a files A, B, C, D to this disk, space would be occupied as:

____aaaaaabbbbbbbbccccddddddd______ 

Say we now delete B and D from it. Now the space would look like:

____aaaaaa_________cccc_____________


Let us say now if we wish to store a file H (which is bigger) on this space. We will no other option than to write some data before aaaaaa, some parts after it and some parts after cccc. i.e.

hhhhaaaaaahhhhhhhhhcccchhhhhh_______

Now if system has to read H fully, it will have to jump 3 times.

This will make your system slow and there will be more wear and tear of disk.

Defragmentation

Defragmentation is a process which organizes non-contiguous data in such a way that it becomes contiguous. eg.

hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaacccc_______

Conclusion
Regular defragmentation of disk is very important. There is an in-built utility in Windows to defragment the disk (Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools)

My favourite program for this purpose is Defraggler which is fast, efficient and above all FREE!

Enjoy your faster computer!

Make Windows 7 faster in 1 click!!!

What it does?

For quite some time I have been looking for a program, which could cleanup Windows System, registry, privacy issues and could defrag registry and drives, all by a single click. For sure there are programs like those. But they are paid and are expensive (eg. System Mechanic)

Recently I came across an awesome program which has a commendable number of features to instantly tune up your Windows system.

Toolwiz Care is the all-in-one solution!



Official description:

Toolwiz Care is a free tool kit designed to speed up your slow PC. With multi-functional optimization suite, this Windows system optimizer provides a collection of tools which includes System Checkup,System Cleanup,System Speedup,and 40+ powerful tools to enhance your PC performance, local and network security, and optimize the start-up procedure. Toolwiz team guarantees users that Toolwiz Care will stay free forever. This tool kit is designed for all levels of PC users from beginners to experts.

Personally I recommend this awesome little program for everyone who uses Windows...

Windows XP vs Windows 7 (Stability and Efficiency)

Windows XP - olden times...

Windows XP (now outdated by vendors but still being used a lot) has been a landmark as compared to its predecessors. Windows XP seemed unmatched for its speed, efficiency, functionality, compatibility and neatness. On the other hand, it pathetically fails when talking about security of data and security of OS in general. Right now you should consider using it only if you do not use internet, USB drives, CD/DVD Drives, LAN or Wifi. Why? It has very poor strategy for access controls. Also its resource management is really poor that makes it vulnerable to virus and other malicious software (such as badware, trojan horses, keyloggers etc.) If you are in a LAN or shared line connection, you are even more vulnerable to this even if you reputed antivirus software. I still remember my Windows XP computer on which I tested new software. I always needed to install the OS every month on an average as it frequently became unstable.

Windows 7 - the revolution

It was two years ago that I felt too lazy to switch to Windows 7. I feared it would not support the software I use on Windows XP. Finally, I dared to install Windows 7 on my system and I really didn't have to regret at all! Everything worked like a charm. For most of the hardware on my system I did not even have to install drivers as they come bundled in the OS itself. And for majority of the remaining ones, Windows 7 did the hard job of finding them and installing for me.

Compatibility: You do not have to worry about it. Windows 7 is compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista and even older software! Even there is a powerful compatibility wizard for sorting out any compatibility issues.

Security and Integrity: Windows 7 is highly secure and stable OS even after thousands of amazing features! System drive (C) is very well protected. Access classifications are awesome! Programs are not given Administrator access without your permission. What that means to you is that no program can access core features of your system without your permission and it cannot cause any damage if it is bad. Even the in built firewall is much better as compared to the one in Windows XP which seemed more like hiding yourself behind a transparent curtain. Even system's resource management is much better in Windows 7 that makes your system more efficient.

Windows 7 is intelligent and knows how to fix it: Gone are the days when one had to install the OS when even a little component went berserk. Windows 7 can easily fix itself automatically by connecting to internet. When an application or process crashes, you would be presented a popup where solution to that crash can be found.

Better safety and security for your data: You can easily encrypt your data with the in-built encryption features. Also there is in-built support for backing up data in various forms including making a blind image.

Conclusion

If you are still using Windows XP, you must switch to Windows 7 not only because it is cool and has more features but also because it is much better from every angle and would save you from a lot of labor on your system. I recommend using a good Anti-virus and firewall software too on Windows 7.

Windows 8 pre-release features

Finally, the killer Windows 8 is out in its pre-release stage! There have been quite a number of changes done after the Developer Preview. In Windows 8 Developer Preview one can easily see a few changes, in main content as well as user interface design. Windows is now paying more concentration towards touch-devices along with its famous conventional desktop which can make a tablet user's life better. For sure Microsoft cannot leave behind the conventional keyboard/mouse features either. Now let us take a look at what stuff is new and what has been added.

1. The Windows Store
Ah, as we know that Google App store and Apple's App store for iOS are surging forward the bounds of current community, Microsoft has also made a move in the direction. Here comes the Windows Store! With your current Windows Live Messenger or Hotmail identity, you can easily access the Windows Store that houses Metro-style Apps for Windows which integrate themselves easily into your current OS in not more than few clicks. You may not want to miss this section if you are geeky. :)

Also if you like playing games, there's a cool Cut the Rope game (which I found cool), along with plenty of others. The app store has been quite nice managed and well classified into groups, sub-groups and listings which makes the navigation easy and user-friendly. Like the conventional App-stores, this one too has Top-Paid, Top Free, New releases and Top rated sections.

Listings are very nicely organized too. Once you open the listing page for an App, you can see user star rating, price, icon(s), screenshots, summary and the most important - install button (like Apple App-store again). When you hit the Install button, you can instantly (depends on your connection speed) see the activity bar telling you that the App was installed. You will see the newly installed App's tile at the end of your Start Screen.

2. Changes in "Charms"
Main system menu icons - Charms - are now situated in the center of right edge which were previously kept on lower left corner. Mouse point to open them have been moved in opposite direction. Charms can now be accessed from top of right corner. You just have to swipe the right edge if you are using touch.

3. Semantic Zoom
Pinch the screen from your touch screen and see all the app tiles resize into a neat and clean, intelligent view. Touch gestures can now make renaming, moving, copying much easier.

4. App stack gesture/mouse
When in touch mode, just a swipe of finger from left edge is required to navigate through the thumbnails (which opens up a vertical swipe menu) of all your running apps. Swipe here has proved really organic and more understandable way.

5. Transition to Desktop
Transitions seem nice only when in limit. But the one in Developer view and in later has a difference. It now seems much more quicker and relevant than it was before.