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August 29, 2008 12:00 AM PDT

Featured Freeware: Download Accelerator Plus

by Seth Rosenblatt
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This download manager brings much more to the table than fast file transfers, but it definitely delivers those, too. Upon installation, Download Accelerator Plus asks for your e-mail address in hopes of sending you special offers, but you don't actually need to submit any information.

Increased download speeds are the program's bread and butter, speeding up downloads by almost 200 percent in most cases. Besides splitting files into smaller pieces, it automatically seeks faster mirrors. It also can get a file simultaneously from several sites, which is useful if a particular site limits the download speed, it can resume downloads, and it can preview some media files while downloading. There's a blacklist for sites that you never want to accept downloads from, too, and categorized folders and filters to keep your downloads organized.

The nag panels have been woven into this freeware fairly innocuously, and they don't clutter the tabbed main window or the download windows as much as they could. They also make the UI feel similar to LimeWire and other file-sharing clients. DAP installs a toolbar in Internet Explorer and integrates with Firefox and other browsers, which can be both useful and annoying depending on your preferences. All things considered, this feature-rich program will prove valuable for those with massive downloading habits.

Seth peers into the deep, dark corners of software so that you don't have to. He has yet to suffer a single nightmare about OS/2. You can follow him on Twitter.
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by BrianZachary August 29, 2008 2:17 AM PDT
I've been using DAP for a couple years and I love it. I have tried other downloaders for comparison, but none of them even came close in comparison with looks and functionality. There is a paid upgrade, but I've always been fine with the free version.

One feature of DAP that the description failed to mention that I love is the tabbed downloading. Which means that if you are downloading more than one item at the same time, you can click on the tab of any of your current downloads to check their progress. Much better than the default Windows downloader, which has a different downloading dialog for each item you are downloading. You can download up to 20 items max at one time, which does slow the downloads a little, but not much. Even then, DAP is still faster than anything else.

Another great feature in DAP is it keeps a history of all your downloads. So, in case you ever need to check to see something you have downloaded before or even download something again for whatever reason, it's easy. And of course, there's a resume feature, in case something happens, you can resume a download right where it was stopped.

Oh, and one more thing I want to mention. In the options, you can set up to scan any downloads automatically with your antivirus program. I've had trouble with this, trying to find out which file is the correct one, but it doesn't matter since you can just scan the file manually after it's downloaded. DAP does have its own built-in security scanner, but it's still best to use your own program.

There are quite a few options, so be sure to go through them.
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by mnl1121 August 29, 2008 9:59 AM PDT
It may not be free but IDM or Internet Download Manager is much better and faster than DAP. its nag/ad free, it splits and downloads files from the same source (it opens up multiple connections on the same server) as well as opening up multiple connections on different servers. Anyway i just wanted to let you know. I tried DAP and its just annoying, ads everywhere, then i tried IDM and its a massive difference, like night and day. though like i said IDM isn't free.
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by lisichok August 29, 2008 1:58 PM PDT
I love this DAP!!!
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by micky0 August 30, 2008 12:08 AM PDT
Ya my opinion also same I think IDM is the best one , I dont like that advertisement on the surface of DAP. I have try this several time and Now I'm using IDM , but i think both of these softwares doing same So I have move to speed up my internet downloadings and surfing just optimizing computer settings I have got good result from that , I have use these optimizations for Mozilla firefox and for xp optimizations I have used
these settings ,, those are preciously worked for me, Also there is software called speed connect xp that one also doing good adjustment and speed up internet connection from good percentage
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by emperordarius August 30, 2008 4:59 AM PDT
This is spyware. Read the EULA next time. Use Free Download Manager.
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by blaszta August 30, 2008 5:30 AM PDT
I used DAP several years ago but after switching to several download managers I choose Orbit Downloader. It has all DAP feature (although the interface is not quite as nice) and more advanced feature like Firefox integration and Grab++ to download FLV movies :-D
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by masterz13 September 1, 2008 4:22 PM PDT
Is this spyware or what? I downloaded it this afternoon and it works well. Please tell me.
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by coleman_online July 27, 2009 1:26 AM PDT
A word of warning about DAP.

In theory, using the trial version, one should be able to download as many as 5 files at a time. On average, I've downloaded 3 at a time with no problem. However, I've tried downloading 5 files of video simultaneously via high-speed cable, and none of them played correctly. And this quirk can be reproduced consistently. Ergo, user beware.

If they would resolve this problem, they would have an exceptional product; one well-worth buying for the upgraded version.

The success of the product is now in the designers' hands. Out of ten stars, DAP gets a seven. I'll update my review if and when they troubleshoot and resolve.
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