The inbuilt Firefox download manager is a gem in itself, but recently I came across Down Them All.
Down them all is a Firefox add-on and it is a download manager/accelerator. The website claims up to 400% faster downloads. It’s a bit like download accelerator pro in that it uses up maximum bandwidth when downloading large files.
I used Down Them All to download a few 700mb files, including the Ubuntu operating system from an Optus mirror. The results were excellent: using a 1.5mbps connection, I was averaging about 150kb/sec throughout the download.
I have since used it to download 5gig of data today, and it has saved me plenty of time.
What’s more, it integrates itself, so when you right click and save as, DTA will automatically appear as one of the options. Selecting it will open the download manager.
DTA allows for easy management of your downloads, including: pausing, resuming, limiting, and prioritising your downloads.
DTA can be found via: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/201
Guest post by Raja Devanathan of MrFeedback.net
A couple of snippets concerning Google’s new Chrome browser:
Pop-ups not shown, but Advertisers billed?
It seems like Chrome’s new Pop-Up hider still loads the Pop-Up ads, but doesn’t present them to the viewer.
This is somewhat different to how traditional Pop-Up blockers work, in that they actually prevent the ad from loading. Our understanding of that approach is that this means the Advertiser wouldn’t be charged, as their ad is not loading.
The situation with Chrome may well be different, as the ad is being loaded but not shown, which could lead to advertisers still being charged for Pop-Ups that no one will ever see.
For Pop-Up haters that’s fine, but if true and if Chrome grabs a significant portion of the Browser market, then this could well lead to changes in advertising methods.
Google promotes Firefox, oops!
In a very public spirited gesture, it seems that Google (via YouTube at least) is still advertising Firefox, even after the launch of Chrome.
Whether this is an oversight on Google’s part, or a requirement of their agreement with Mozilla we don’t know. Is Google still the default search engine bundled with Firefox installs, as per their agreement (which was re-negotiated earlier this year)? If so, how much longer will this arrangment last?
Thanks to Raja of MrFeedback.net for the heads up about the Firefox ad in Youtube.
This is a guest post contributed by Raja of MrFeedback
We have seen privacy introduced in Internet Explorer 8 (beta 2 version) & Google Chrome, and Firefox has recently announced that private browsing will be incorporated into their browser in version 3.1 – currently you can get private browsing mode by downloading the Stealther 1.06 plugin available through Download.com, and there are similar solutions available from Mozilla’s add on website.
The concept behind Privacy mode is simple – any record of your browsing history is discarded once you close the browser session in IE or Google Chrome. Firefox plan to take this feature a few steps further and will have:
- no autofill for passwords
- all cookies will be discarded after browsing
- all downloads in Download Manager will be discarded after browsing
- Unlike IE, you won’t even be able to tell if you’re surfing in Private Mode. IE has a neon indicator to announce the activation of private mode. Firefox will keep the fact that you’re surfing in private mode, well..private. Nice feature.
Private surfing is useful, despite the obvious concern that it will assist people to do things on the internet which are questionable. As internet shopping becomes the norm, it will enable people to keep gift purchases, for example, and other activities private. It’s good that browsers are installing this feature, despite it inevitably being misused by a percentage of people.
I’d love to hear any comments or feedback on Privacy mode and Browser security in general.
Raja Devanathan
Founder of MrFeedback.net
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