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The level of Internet traffic continues to grow as more and more users rely on this virtual environment and its different on-line facilities. Shopping for a wide range of everyday and unusual goods; downloading music, videos and games; booking holidays and travel arrangements; plus searching for information on a variety of subjects all help to add to the congestion that can quickly adversely affect the surfing experience. It does not matter what type of connection you have, even Broadband can suffer a performance hit, frustrating delays can be encountered.

In an attempt to alleviate this problem, the people at Manaccom have come up with a solution entitled TD Download Accelerator. Distributed in the UK by Phoenix Global Software, TD Download Accelerator will integrate itself with most popular browsers including Internet Explorer 5.5 or later, in order to provide a faster service than is possible using the default Windows download operation.

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As you might expect from the program’s title, this utility concentrates its functionality on speeding up any downloads that are required. It achieves this feat by a combination of methods. It can break down a download into bite-size chunks and then join the pieces back together at the conclusion of the download. Multiple files can be processed at the same time and download speed can be adjusted to fit the available bandwidth.

Using a fixed size window, the program’s interface consists of a menu and tool bars that run along the top of a display area. This area, initially empty until some activity is instigated, will be used to show the list of files that have been downloaded using the program. Along with the name of the file will be information regarding file size, download status, a user-defined description plus, in the case of any files currently being download, the estimated completion time and download speed.

TA Download Accelerator is eminently customisable. The program can be set to run whenever Windows enabling it to manage any downloads that are required. You can opt for the program to check the clipboard for any stored URLs and use them for making a download and automatically download files with specific file extensions. A default list of extensions is provided and this can easily be edited by adding or removing entries to suit individual circumstances.

TA Download has the capability to store and use passwords for frequently visited sites and use any required proxy settings. Download activity can be schedule for specific times and you can select from various actions that will be carried out at the conclusion of a download. You can also export your download list to other computers.

The packaging of TA Download Accelerator quotes an improvement of 300%. Impressive as it sounds, this figure was well wide of the mark that I achieved. There was a marked improvement when using this program but this was far less than the quoted speed. However any improvement in download speed is worth having.

TA Download Accelerator is hardly demanding when it comes to its system requirements. You will need a Pentium with 32MB of RAM, 10 MB of hard disk space and running Windows 98 or later. Pricing has been set at £9.99.

http://www.phoenixglobalsoftware.co.uk/soap_box/download_accelerator/index.asp