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Net Gains (Oct 08, 97) |
About 3 months ago, I was downloading an email package for the
company I was training with. I was working with a 28.8 Kbps modem,
and the line was unusually steady, so the 13 Mb file size was
not a problem. Things were going well as I entered the home stretch
with just half an Mb left to download - until a power fluctuation
reset the modem. 12.5 Mb of a 13 Mb file downloaded, but totally
useless … I started the entire process again, and got the
entire package a couple of hours later.
I kept cribbing about this incident over the next few weeks,
until someone recommended a great utility called GetRight that
was supposed to make downloading less painful. I promptly put
it on my "to-do" list … and forgot about it. With
a 14.4 modem, I had a 1 Mb barrier of the mind - I never used
to let myself get tempted by any software that was over 1 Mb.
But with Diana's death, and my upgrading to a 33.6 modem, I finally
braved the surf and decided to try downloading the Princess Diana
Tribute Screen Saver (PDTSS) that was - hold your breath - 2.8
Mb ! With transfer rates touching 2 K per second, I got 2.7 Mb
in hardly any time. But then I lost carrier (got disconnected
from VSNL) - and I have 2 bald patches to show the frustration
I felt then.
Being really desperate, I found my ancient "to-do"
list, and downloaded GetRight. It was supposed to resume downloads
that were broken because of a dropped carrier, power fluctuation,
or whatever. I put it to the test, trying to download the PDTSS
once again. As expected, halfway through the download, I lost
carrier. But GetRight presented me with the "resume download"
option - and it continued downloading from where it got cut off
! Amazing stuff - a must have utility for all of us - specially
since our line conditions here leave so much to be desired …
Oh yeah ! About the hair loss part, GetRight stops people from
tearing their hair out when faced with a broken download - specially
in cases where about 95% of the file was downloaded before losing
carrier.
GetRight is available as shareware at http://www.headlightsw.com/
The Princess Diana Tribute Screen Saver is a multimedia screensaver
that captures cherished images of Di, from her emergence in the
public's eye with her engagement to Prince Charles through the
fairy tale wedding of the century and the births of her sons,
and then through the following years in the unique balance of
her public functions and the private life in raising her children.
It ranked #3 on the most popular downloads last week on Download.com
with 49,615 downloads. Free download from various sites available
at :
http://www.download.com/PC/Result/Download/0,21,0-34954,00.html
- 9th : John Lennon (http://www.yahoo.com/Entertainment/Music/Artists/By_Genre/Rock/Lennon__John/)
- 12th : Luciano Pavarotti (http://www.yahoo.com/Entertainment/Music/Artists/By_Genre/Opera/Pavarotti__Luciano/)
- 13th : Paul Simon (http://www.yahoo.com/Entertainment/Music/Artists/By_Genre/Rock/Simon__Paul/)
Stop Press : Frantic emails have been filling my mailbox
about ShellSock not working anymore. The developers of Shellsock,
a useful software that converts a shell account to a TCP/IP, have
confirmed that VSNL servers around the country have modified their
programs so that ShellSock will not function. Too bad they resort
to tactics like these just when the competition is about to end
VSNL's monopoly.