How to Accelerate Downloads on Mac?
Technologies develop so quickly that things that were legendary few years ago become ordinary today. All popular browsers have great download managers and downloading of large files is not a problem anymore. The problem is in us now: we are not prepared for working with large files and bulk downloads or work without download managers. Here you will find ways how to enhance the download possibilities of your system and how to improve the download speed.
JDownloader is a Java platform download manager that can be used in Windows, Linux or any other Java-enabled OS. You can also use it with Mac OS X. Unlimited multithreaded and scheduled downloads and more than 100 premium file sharing sites support makes this downloader really beneficial. There are several plug-ins that can improve the performance of JDownloader: unarchiving FlashGot and web interface Growl, for example.
DownThemAll! (Add-on for the Firefox) will force you to use Firefox for the downloads instead of your usual browser, especially when it comes to downloading large batches of files. Just scrape the media you want to download in one window where you can add download links and manage the speed of download. It enables multi-threat downloads and you decide how many threats will be.
Folx Download Manager has a free version that is extremely popular among Mac OS X users. Of course, some features of the Pro version are not available here, like torrent search or RSS support, however, remaining features are really helpful. This manager catches links from Opera, Firefox, Safari and Google Chrome and is considered to be one of the most efficient free tools for Mac OS X. You can categorize downloads of Folx with help of tags and smart groups. Free version proposes two threads (you get ten with Pro version) with manageable speed.
Secure the Downloads and Setup of the Software
Here is a set of tips how to secure the download and setup of the free software taken from different sites.
• Trust your intuition. Do not download anything from the links received via email or IM chat, unless you trust the source.
• Use antivirus software and constantly update it in order to ensure the security of the device.
• Download the software from the curated software lists. Use the knowledge gathered by other people to visit only reliable and secured sites. However, when it concerns freeware software you have to select the least-worth place from several bad options.
• It is essential to get acquainted with the terms freeware, trialware and commercial. Freeware means that the software is free to use. Trialware means that the chosen software will be free for certain period of time and after that you will have to pay for it to continue using. Commercial software requires payment before you can use it. Though today most commercial software have trial periods.
• When you download software for free it doesn’t mean that the software will be free. It is a trick of software makers that have an intention to confuse the users. Usually low quality software uses such tricks leaving the users no chance but to pay for the service. So check the description of the software to make sure that it is a freeware.
• Do not fall for Download Advertisements. If you see huge Download buttons, do not click them as usually they lead to advertisement pages that have no useful information at all.
• Search for the real download button – it will be a way smaller and placed somewhere near the name of the file.
• Do not use “Installers” and “Download Managers”. Sometimes unfaithful owners of the sites wrap free software in the program called installer and get money for that.