Speed Download 2.0.1 ($20 Shareware)
YazSoft

With today's broadband connections, download speeds are usually measured in kilobytes or megabytes per second. Compare this to the "bad old days" when a modem connection of 300 or 1200 kilobits per second was something to get excited about. Alas, while connection speeds have increased, so have file sizes. If only there was a way to get maximum download speeds from your existing broadband connection...

Speed Download 2 is a download manager that integrates with all major browsers, and jumps in when you start downloading a file with your browser. This in itself is a useful feature, since you can now go to one place to keep track of the files that you've downloaded. But there's more. If your download is interrupted for some reason, Speed Download can automatically retry the download until it resumes. Now let's talk about the Speed part of Speed Download...

Speed Download Lets You Manage All Downloads in One Place

Speed Downloads gets extra speed by opening multiple connections to the server that contains the file that you'd like to download. This approach should have the same net effect as a single download; you are essentially downloading parts of the file in parallel, so your download will be completed quicker, allowing others to access the server in question. For servers and connections that have sufficient capacity, this shouldn't be a problem, but if you know the remote server is sensitive to too much network traffic, you can both limit the number of simultaneous connections (only 2 allowed in the non-registered version) as well as the maximum bandwidth. This may also make sense if you'd like to perform other network tasks during the download.

Speed Download 2 has some other great features. You can share your download links with others who are running Speed Download 2. You can schedule downloads, perhaps starting a download late at night when there's less network activity. You can filter your downloads, so you can sort and list them by file extension or other criteria. There's an earlier version for OS 9, but you should really get with the program and upgrade so you can get the latest version for Mac OS X.

So make the most of your downloading experience, and download Speed Download 2 today!

Have any other Gadgets that maximize the performance of your Mac? Send an e-mail to John and he'll beat up on it.