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Downloads Page
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Overview
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The Downloads Page shows you all of your active, pending, completed,
and failed downloads. After you have chosen one or more files for
downloading, they will appear in the list. You can monitor the
progress of your download, view any errors that occurred while downloading,
or control the state of your downloads from here.
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Appearance
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Download List |
This list shows all of your downloads. These are the columns:
File Name |
The name of the file you requested. If the server reports a different
file name, it is updated to reflect the actual file name.
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Size |
This is the size of the requested file. If the file exists in your
temporary directory, two sizes are displayed. The first is the
size of your file. The second is the size of the requested file. If
the file you requested is of a different size than indicated in
the search result, the total size is updated to reflect the
actual size when known.
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Status |
This is the status of the transfer. Sorting on the status column
will group the transfers logically. When at least one byte of
the requested file is received, the status changes to a percentage
indicator. For resumed downloads, this will start off at the
percentage of the file you already have. For a new download,
the file is not created until the percentage indicator appears.
Before the transfer completes or fails, you will see these states:
Push |
A direct connection could not be made to the remote host,
and a push message was sent out.
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Request |
A request was made for the file, and you are waiting for the response.
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Trying |
BearShare is trying to connect to the host.
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Waiting |
The download is queued and will start when there is an open slot.
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When a download terminates, these are the possible states:
Busy |
The remote host indicated that the request was valid and
the file exists, but they are at the limit of concurrent
uploads. BearShare will automatically retry the server
periodically until the transfer begins or until the
remote host no longer responds.
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Canceled |
The FreePeers agent canceled your download request. This can happen
if you try to download the same file while it is already in the list.
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Closed |
The connection was closed.
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Done |
The transfer is complete. These items are displayed in green, and
disappear after a few seconds if Keep Completed is not checked.
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Exists |
The file already existed in your downloads directory. BearShare
will not attempt to download files with the same name that exist
in your downloads directory.
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Incomplete |
The remote host closed the connection gracefully before sending
all of the file data. The FreePeers Agent will automatically attempt
to re-connect to the server in order to resume the download. If
the reconnection attempt fails, an Incomplete status is indicated.
Incomplete files are displayed in blue. These items remain in the
list for a while before being removed, if Keep Completed is not checked.
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Not Found |
This is displayed when the requested file could not be
located on the remote server.
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Not Moved |
The transfer completed, but the FreePeers Agent could not move
the file from the temporary directory to the downloads directory.
This can happen if you have the file open in another program
(like a media player) when the transfer completes. This can also
happen if you rename or delete your downloads directory. These
items are drawn in green, with the status drawn in red.
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Not Shared |
This is displayed when the remote server indicated that
it has the file, but is no longer sharing it.
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When the request is terminated, these
states are possible:
Aborted |
You aborted the transfer.
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Bad |
The remote server issued a bad response to the request. The
reason is reported in the error list if Show all download
errors is checked in the Network Setup.
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Problem |
There was a problem with the connection. Problems
are reported in the error list.
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Timeout |
The FreePeers Agent terminated the connection for
one of many possible reasons. The reason is reported
in the error list if Show all download errors is
checkd in the Network Setup.
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Error |
A program failure occurred. The reason is reported
in the error list.
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Due to the nature of TCP/IP over the Internet, connections
can frequently fail. When they fail, the status will show one
of the following:
Abort |
The connection was aborted by the remote host.
This can be the result of user actions, or a problem
with their software.
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Refused |
A manual or automatic connection attempt was refused
by the remote host. The remote host may not be running
the program any more, or they may be behind a firewall.
This can also happen if the remote host has more
incoming connections than it can handle.
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Reset |
The connection was reset by the remote host. This can
happen when the disconnect sequence is abruptly terminated,
or through a software problem.
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Down |
The remote host is not responding to a connection attempt.
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Unreach |
The remote host IP address is unreachable from your network.
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Net Down |
The network subsystem failed.
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Failure |
Another problem was indicated with the connection. The
reason is reported in the error list.
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Time |
For transfers in progress, this is the estimated time until the transfer
is done. If the server was busy, this shows the number of seconds until
BearShare will requeue the download and try again. For other active items,
this shows the number of seconds for the current status to change until
BearShare gives up on the transfer. If this is a completed item,
the total elapsed time for the transfer is displayed.
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Bandwidth |
The amount of bandwidth used by the connection, both incoming and
outgoing. If the transfer is complete, this shows the average
throughput for the entire transfer.
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Host |
The IP address of the computer you are downloading from is displayed
here. The computer name is displayed when it can be determined
if reverse lookup is enabled in the Setup and your DNS server allows
reverse lookups.
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Origin |
The country of origin, internet service provider, or business entity
corresponding to the remote address is displayed when it can be determined
if reverse lookup is enabled in the Setup and your DNS server allows
reverse lookups.
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Version |
The type of software the remote server is using is displayed here
when it can be determined.
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An active transfer is displayed in black. Queued or waiting items are
displayed in dimmed text. Failed transfers are shown in red, and completed
transfers are shown green. A failed transfer will be automatically reattempted
if the failure was not terminal.
Completed or failed items are usually removed from the list after being
displayed for a brief interval, unless the Keep Completed or Keep Failed
checkboxes are checked.
You can select a download by left clicking in the list. You may select
more than one download by holding down the control key when you click.
You can access the downloads menu by right clicking in the list.
Double clicking a download will open the selected file using the appropriate
program if the file exists. You can open a file even as it is downloading.
If the data is not coming in fast enough, however, music or video files
may not play all their contents until the download has been completed.
If the transfer failed, is waiting, or is queued, double clicking the
item will move it into the waiting, queued, or starting state respectively.
Tip: Windows Media Player cannot play files while they
are being downloaded.
Tip: You can drag any URL from your browser (Internet Explorer, Netscape
or any other browser) which references a file from the browser window into the Download List
and it will be requested and downloaded like a search result.
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Download Menu |
You can access the download menu by right clicking in the download list.
Most menu items apply to all currently selected items. These are the choices:
Queue |
This will re-queue a failed or aborted transfer. Items in the
queue will be started when there is an open slot.
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Start |
Start or restart the selected downloads if they can be started. Most
downloads that have stopped can be restarted. You can use this to
start a download that is waiting in the queue, or resume a failed
or aborted transfer. It is possible to go over the concurrent limit
by starting downloads manually.
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Open |
Opens a single selected file using the program appropriate for the
file type. The file must exist in either the temporary directory or
the downloads directory. You can open files even while they
are being transferred. You can also double click an item in the
list to open it.
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Explore |
Opens the directory containing the partial or completed file using
the Windows Explorer. This is a useful shortcut for managing your
downloads.
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Clear |
Choosing this will remove a red or green item from the display.
It does not affect your files.
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Abort |
This aborts selected downloads. This applies to downloads that
are waiting in the queue, waiting for a retry, connecting,
or transferring. The partial results of the download, if any,
are not removed from your temporary directory.
If you start an aborted download over again, BearShare will resume
with the partial contents of the file if it exists.
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Abort All |
This aborts all of the downloads in the list, with the same rules
as aborting each download individually.
Don't choose this menu item
accidentally!
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Clear All |
Choosing this will remove all red or green items from the display.
It does not affect your files.
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Connect Host |
This will attempt to connect as a host to the computer that is
serving the selected file. This can speed up searches targeted
towards that computer.
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Download Errors |
Any problems with your downloads will appear in this list. Sometimes
problems do happen; For example, the computer you are downloading
from may become disconnected from the network, or the user may decide
they no longer want to share files. When this happens, try to get
the file from another host, or try your request again later.
Problems related to your local file system are reported in the list
as well. If you run out of hard drive space in your downloads directory,
it will be reported in the list.
You can clear the list by right clicking with the mouse and choosing
Clear List. You may also resize the errors list by clicking and
dragging in the space between the errors list and the host list.
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Download Display Items |
Turning these boxes on instructs BearShare to clear the appropriate
item from the display automatically. When the option to clear
is checked, the items will be removed after a brief pause.
Note: These checkboxes do not affect your files
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Download Controls |
The Always retry failed option, when checked, will re-queue any download
which fails due to a non-terminal error.
The edit box controls the maximum number of files BearShare will try
to download at once. If you have a slower network connection, consider
setting this to one or two. Users with faster connections can have
a larger number of concurrent downloads; However, if you have too
manu downloads going at the same time, this will reduce the amount
of bandwidth available for uploads.
It is possible for the number of active downloads to go over the
number you enter here if you manually start downloads using the
Start menu item.
When a download completes and there are several downloasd waiting
in the list to choose next, the FreePeers Agent will prefer servers
that you are not already downloading from. This keeps the load down
on any one particular server when possible, and therefore increases your
chances of getting the file.
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Download Statistics |
This section shows the number of downloads in progress, and
the portion of your bandwidth used for downloading. The bandwidth does
not include the bandwidth used for hosts or uploads, and does not include
bandwidth used by other programs.
The number of downloads is shown as the number of currently active
items, followed by the total number of items (active and queued).
If they are the same, only one number is displayed.
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