Speeding Up Downloads - What Are The Best Programs / Add Ons ?

[torrenova]

I'm new to all this download stuff but I hear names like:

Flashget

CFOS

azureus

etc.

I don't want to download all the stuff as I reckon it'll screw up my PC (1024/512) but is there an optimum setting ?

Also, what about torrent choice. I was told bittorrent but........ any ideas.

Thanks

[sutnyod]

I tried flashget and another programme (don't rememer the name, something with 'download' and 'bot') on both Windows XP home and professional and was not impressed. Then I installed Opera as my browser and since then don't need a download accelerator (Opera comes with a built-in one). What it does is it remembers what was downloaded already and, if you reconnect, starts where it has stopped rather than starting all over like other programmes.

[Naam]

I tried flashget and another programme (don't rememer the name, something with 'download' and 'bot') on both Windows XP home and professional and was not impressed. Then I installed Opera as my browser and since then don't need a download accelerator (Opera comes with a built-in one). What it does is it remembers what was downloaded already and, if you reconnect, starts where it has stopped rather than starting all over like other programmes.

what version of Opera are you using?

[lopburi3]

I am using "free download manager" on Vista system and highly recommend it - much better that any pay for downloader (it works with firefox without additional programs).

Although above can also do torrents prefer uTorrent 1.7.5 for that function - can run both at same time.

[JonnieB]

i second lop's recco of free download manager (FDM). Great free down load manager and very customizable and very fast!!!

also, for videos, real audio 11 (beta) has a neat add-on that adds a video download utility so that when your view any web page with just about any type of embedded videos on it, you can easily down load the videos to your HD for later offline viewing.

another great download utility, again for stuff on web pages (photos, videos, etc) is available with the Mozilla browser. It's an ad-on called "down them all." when you are viewing a web page, open this utility and it shows you all "parts" that make up that page (photos, videos, gifs, everything) and you can download everything on the page or specific items. again, great for offline viewing of photos or videos (while you surf other pages). also great for downloading large video files between different internet sessions as will automatically pick-up where left off when one session ends.

[sniffdog]

My success setup:

- Flashget (3 - 8 connections)

- Flashgot (for Firefox only)

- CFOS Speed.

Downloads at 200-224KBs (on TOT 2mbs) ...

[fennielyn]

Downloads at 200-224KBs (on TOT 2mbs) ...

Seriously? For direct downloads or torrents? I think I may have a problem with my router because where I used to get speed of up to 150kb/s for fresh, hot torrents I'm now averaging a 20 if I'm lucky. I suspect the router coz my NAT is always red (firewalled it says) or sometimes yellow (NAT reachibility problem-whatever that is) but just a month ago, every was a-ok (green) and I really can't figure out what the problem is. Wiki just makes me even lost and God knows I'm not the most IT-savvy person around. If it's really my router's config that's the problem, I'm basically screwed.

[ozymandious]

I live by FDM - free download manager

i have also been impressed with DAP - download accelerator plus

for torrents I've tried bit torrent, azureaus (sp?) & uTorrent and like uTorrent the best

[Plus]

I used to have Free Download Manager and FreshGet, but like a previous poster, with Opera you don't need any of that. I still keep them installed, but disabled, since they always get in the way when you click on something.

I recently used FreshGet for downloading ALL Academy Fantasia songs (about 400 of them). The reason was that it does "batch" download - you give it "rules" and it goes off, finds the files, and downloads them. With AF it was easy because of thier naming system - they use numbers. If every file was named after the song title in a folder named after album title, it would be a real pain.

Other than that, they outlived their usefullness - initially they were designed for speeding up downloads in dial-up times, and for preventing Internet Explorer downloads from disruptions.

You still need some utilities for downloading youtube videos, but that's a different story altogether.

[torrenova]

Sorry, maybe my lack of understanding regarding terminology is the problem.

I am talking specifically about torrents, like movies and TV progrmmes. I use bit torrent, know about u-torrent but this other stuff seems tome, a lay man, like add ons to these.

I run XP Pro SP2 so Vista stuff is not on my menu.

What is this about Opera ? I have Opera as an available browser but use it just as back up (free version). I'm using Firefox more these days but usually Explorer 6.0

Are you saying that the browser Opera can do the torrent stuff ? I'm not worried about the speed of a 4 minute You Tube thing but rather the 2GB stuff from torrents and how to speed thatup and whether these other programs actually help. Cheers

[fennielyn]

Sorry, maybe my lack of understanding regarding terminology is the problem.

I am talking specifically about torrents, like movies and TV progrmmes. I use bit torrent, know about u-torrent but this other stuff seems tome, a lay man, like add ons to these.

I run XP Pro SP2 so Vista stuff is not on my menu.

What is this about Opera ? I have Opera as an available browser but use it just as back up (free version). I'm using Firefox more these days but usually Explorer 6.0

Are you saying that the browser Opera can do the torrent stuff ? I'm not worried about the speed of a 4 minute You Tube thing but rather the 2GB stuff from torrents and how to speed thatup and whether these other programs actually help. Cheers

What are you currently using to dl torrents? You will need a torrent client like azureus (which consumes the most memory as it does mine!), Utorrent, Bitcomet or Mainline. And yes you will have to configure some of the settings like port and maximum dl and ul speed. But I think the upgraded clients may have auto set everything for you. Best is to dl and try. For torrents, the speed of your dl depends very very much on 1) your connection speed 2) number of peers and seeders for that particular torrent.

If the torrent is old, then less likely you'll find many seeders as most folks are selfish asses who delete the show after watching it (i'm one of them but I do try my best to keep the show on HD for as long as possible or until I run out of space). What site are you getting your torrents from? Mininova or eztv are best for all major TV shows. hths!

[torrenova]

I use BitTorrent but don't care who I use.

The problem may be with my modem. It is a 2 year old TOT Himark-tel DB120 which does not appear to have the facility to set the ports or port range.

[Plus]

Opera does download torrents, but it's rudimentary in that regard, same as Free download manager that also dowloads torrents.

Now that it's clear what you wanted, get your Bittorrent working properly and don't worry about anything else.

I personally use Azureus and as my home computer is connected directly to the Internet, I don't need to worry about routers and ports and stuff. Easy peasy.

Utorrent seems to be very popular one at the moment.

Downloading torrents is a complicated activity, just think of it - your 2GB file is broken into thousands of pieces that you need to separately find, put in the queue, and donwload from a dozen of people with maximum speed and efficiency.

Advanced mode in Azureus has at least a hundred of options to tweak the process. Luckily it works just out of the box and tunes up automatically.

[fennielyn]

ARe you able to successfully download any shows yet? And you're not happy with your download speed? I'm currently extremely pissed about my download speed but like I mentioned, it is probably the config of my new router that's chocking up everything. You're using broadband? As in cable or ADSL connection? What sort of shows are you looking at? eztv is the best for ongoing TV programmes, American ones that is. And demonoid is great for movies. Some people like piratebay. Look at your torrent client (the programme you use to dl stuff) and see if there's a tools--->options and check what your max dl speed is. Sometimes it could have auto set to a very low speed like 20kb/s or something. Best to put 0 for max dl speed.

I use BitTorrent but don't care who I use.

The problem may be with my modem. It is a 2 year old TOT Himark-tel DB120 which does not appear to have the facility to set the ports or port range.

[sniffdog]

=================================================

Seriously? For direct downloads or torrents?

=================================================

Rapidshare Premium .... 3 -8 connections (files) at a time. Within seconds to top speed. No special configurations

on my router (SpeedTouch). I don't use torrents ... the initial low downloads prevents my impatience to wait

until it speeds up (if it speeds up).

Yes, as somebody said, it's not free. Around 10 baht per day for Rapidshare, but the best deal on the Web. And there is

so much available ....

[RKASA]

Opera 9.23 has torrents and a built in download manager both of which have worked well for me.  It is also available in linux and I use it in both XP and Linux.  For large downloads like 700mb iso's and the sort I use stardown loader, its free and really works vary well, best thing is it is the vary easy to use, with schduling and auto reconnect ect.  I never had alot of luck with torrent, but Opera seemed to work.  The best torrent I have is Ktorrent in linux it always works great and I don't see why it should be any differant then utorrent because it connects to the same port.  I look at the peers in Ktorrent and I see mostly utorrent in use and alot of the other one Auz or what ever it is.  Alot of people rave about Firefox I have it on my linux and I am sure its fine I just have a habit of using Opera.

(best setting I have found for stardown loader is up to 4 files at a time broken into 6 parts with a min size set at 256k) can load unlimited number of files request into it, each file it finishs it just starts the next inline. Runs over port 80 no configuration.  Right click any download file and go for it.

Edited October 5, 2007 by RKASA

[torrenova]

Opera does download torrents, but it's rudimentary in that regard, same as Free download manager that also dowloads torrents.

Now that it's clear what you wanted, get your Bittorrent working properly and don't worry about anything else.

I personally use Azureus and as my home computer is connected directly to the Internet, I don't need to worry about routers and ports and stuff. Easy peasy.

Utorrent seems to be very popular one at the moment.

Downloading torrents is a complicated activity, just think of it - your 2GB file is broken into thousands of pieces that you need to separately find, put in the queue, and donwload from a dozen of people with maximum speed and efficiency.

Advanced mode in Azureus has at least a hundred of options to tweak the process. Luckily it works just out of the box and tunes up automatically.

So this Azureus, is it a replacement for BitTorrent ? or something to run alongside ?

I want to get my BitTorrent working properly but i don't know how !

Someone kindly PM'd me the screen to do something with POrt Forwarding but I have no idea where to go from there and am scared opf screwing things up.

ARe you able to successfully download any shows yet? And you're not happy with your download speed? I'm currently extremely pissed about my download speed but like I mentioned, it is probably the config of my new router that's chocking up everything. You're using broadband? As in cable or ADSL connection? What sort of shows are you looking at? eztv is the best for ongoing TV programmes, American ones that is. And demonoid is great for movies. Some people like piratebay. Look at your torrent client (the programme you use to dl stuff) and see if there's a tools--->options and check what your max dl speed is. Sometimes it could have auto set to a very low speed like 20kb/s or something. Best to put 0 for max dl speed.

I use BitTorrent but don't care who I use.

The problem may be with my modem. It is a 2 year old TOT Himark-tel DB120 which does not appear to have the facility to set the ports or port range.

I can download stuff. I am currently downloading 3.58GB of Simpsons but it is coming down at only 12kb/s though hit a high of about 60 and often runs in the 20-30 range.

The max is set to 0, speed set to 2048/512, TOT ADSL

I feel everything is now in front of me to sort it out but like pieces of a car engine, I cannot put it together.

[sniffdog]

You might spend 10 dollars on a Rapidshare account, get Flashget. Look for what's you're looking for and then download with 8 connections at a time. See what speed you get ....

[fennielyn]

Azureus is just another torrent Client just like the one that you're using. I'm using Azu myself (coz I started with it and am too lazy to dl a new/different one since it's working fine) but it consumes tons of memory which matters to me only coz I'm real short of RAM at the moment.

I tried to tackle port forwarding a couple of weeks ago due to the slow-ass speed I'm experiencing, but after hours on wiki and portforwarding site I got a severe migraine that lasted all night....I'm not the most IT savvy person around like I said so couldn't deal with the 2948395 steps involved.

Sometimes if you're experiencing slow dl speed it might not have anything to do with your end but the fact that it's an old torrent and there not many seeders or even peers online. Try dl a fresh torrent and see if things get any better.

And btw, going up to 60 is pretty awesome for a torrent that's been around for weeks not to mention months.

Opera does download torrents, but it's rudimentary in that regard, same as Free download manager that also dowloads torrents.

Now that it's clear what you wanted, get your Bittorrent working properly and don't worry about anything else.

I personally use Azureus and as my home computer is connected directly to the Internet, I don't need to worry about routers and ports and stuff. Easy peasy.

Utorrent seems to be very popular one at the moment.

Downloading torrents is a complicated activity, just think of it - your 2GB file is broken into thousands of pieces that you need to separately find, put in the queue, and donwload from a dozen of people with maximum speed and efficiency.

Advanced mode in Azureus has at least a hundred of options to tweak the process. Luckily it works just out of the box and tunes up automatically.

So this Azureus, is it a replacement for BitTorrent ? or something to run alongside ?

I want to get my BitTorrent working properly but i don't know how !

Someone kindly PM'd me the screen to do something with POrt Forwarding but I have no idea where to go from there and am scared opf screwing things up.

ARe you able to successfully download any shows yet? And you're not happy with your download speed? I'm currently extremely pissed about my download speed but like I mentioned, it is probably the config of my new router that's chocking up everything. You're using broadband? As in cable or ADSL connection? What sort of shows are you looking at? eztv is the best for ongoing TV programmes, American ones that is. And demonoid is great for movies. Some people like piratebay. Look at your torrent client (the programme you use to dl stuff) and see if there's a tools--->options and check what your max dl speed is. Sometimes it could have auto set to a very low speed like 20kb/s or something. Best to put 0 for max dl speed.

I use BitTorrent but don't care who I use.

The problem may be with my modem. It is a 2 year old TOT Himark-tel DB120 which does not appear to have the facility to set the ports or port range.

I can download stuff. I am currently downloading 3.58GB of Simpsons but it is coming down at only 12kb/s though hit a high of about 60 and often runs in the 20-30 range.

The max is set to 0, speed set to 2048/512, TOT ADSL

I feel everything is now in front of me to sort it out but like pieces of a car engine, I cannot put it together.