Download Accelerators

[Therese]

When I post a link to a program file I almost always test the link and download the file again. I have an ADSL-connection and I use DAP when I am downloading program files.

It was when I tested the links I posted some days ago I discovered that I sometimes got a wrong version of a program though I was certain that I had given the correct link. It was almost as a lottery. When I disconnected DAP I got the file version I wanted. I came to the conclusion that this phenomenon is due to DAP when the file name is the same independently of version. Unfortunately there are many common programs that have the same file name in all versions (original file name), e.g. CloneCD (SetupCloneCD.exe), MSN Messenger (mmssetup.exe) and others. DAP searches for more than one download site and choses the sites that have the best connection at that moment. I guess that is the reason why I got different file versions when I used DAP but not when I disconnected DAP.

Has anyone else noticed this? Or has anyone else any explanation why this happened?

[lightsup55]

I guess it's possible to get the wrong version from another site (or mirror) since not all places are up to date. For example, WinZip is the most popular zip compression tool and the most talked about, however, not everyone would just link to their website. Instead they would host the install file directly on their site and a download accelerator would tollerate that as an alternative area to download. My brother downloaded GetRight, but I just make sure that it's not running when I use the computer. I prefer not to use download accelerators.

[igor]

One would assume that it would not only check for filename, but also for size, since no two versions are exactly the same size. Perhaps it does not do that.

Personally, I do not use download accelerators. I would rather wait a few extra minutes than risk getting a corrupted file.

- Igor

[guest_Chris]

I have only used GetRight as a download "accelerator" (I prefer to call it a download manager), and have never had any problems with it, despite downloading a lot of stuff! I know that Getright will check with the original URL to determine the file name and size, and will not download a mirror file unless it is exactly the same size. Maybe DAP doesn't do that? Or there's an option somewhere that needs to be changed.

I mean, lets face it, how many files are called setup.exe?!? :P