I’m finding it difficult to download any free software due to a message,
“Download Accelerator Plus not loaded.” How do I remedy this problem? I had
downloaded that a long time ago and subsequently deleted the same. Now I don’t
find any traces anywhere. Please help.
In this excerpt from
Answercast #63, I look at ways to get rid of remnants of a download
accelerator that are causing errors.
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Download accelerators
Well, clearly, there are some traces still left. So what I’m going to suggest
you do is run Revo Uninstaller. It basically will allow you to do some deeper scans in places that potentially the original uninstall missed. That will hopefully remove all traces of DAP.
The other approach might be to uninstall and reinstall your browser. If it’s
not Internet Explorer (or even if it is Internet Explorer), download
and install a different browser, such as Chrome or Firefox. Very often, the kind
of integration that’s being affected here is actually integration with the
browser and it’s very possible that getting rid of the browser and then
reinstalling it will reset that to its default state.
Accelerators not necessary
I do have to comment; I am not a fan of download accelerators for many, many
different reasons.
Yes, they can sometimes kind of, sort of make things a little bit faster.
But in the long run, they don’t really add that much value. They do
add more software and more overhead to your system and very often (too often)
download accelerators are really a means for putting more advertising in front
of your face – and that’s just not worth it to me.
A straight download of a file will typically work just fine. So I strongly
recommend avoiding download accelerators in general. You’re not there.
Obviously, you’ve had one installed – that’s great. Let’s use Revo Uninstaller
to see if we can’t clean that up.
Next from Answercast #63 – Will replacing my C: drive with an SSD speed up my overloaded system?
Just open the main menu of DAP, look for broken or cancel downloads. the file should be there.Delete it.Go to your chosen dowload folder, look for files with the .dap extensions & delete them.
Revo might not work for some reason. It doesn’t always find leftovers bits and pieces if WhateverApp has been removed some other way. Look in the program files and delete anything left there.
If you’re confident with working in the registry you could sort through the regisrty and delete all instances of WhateverApp you find. Then reboot. Make a backup first, JIC.
If you can access your browser settings, you could investigate “manage plug-ins” or similar and make sure DAP is disabled. I once found that an uninstalled toolbar must still have left entries in my browser’s registry settings, as it was still shown in the plug-ins. My browser’s options also allow me to revert to the default download method.
I do agree with Leo’s views on download accelerators in general: they had their uses with dial-up, when long downloads might get interrupted after an hour or two and then have to be restarted (very frustrating, especially when you are paying by the minute!) but with broadband, they seem to be more trouble than they’re worth.
Download Accelerators were a necessity in the days of dialups. As dialups usually break often, it would be difficult to download files of even 10 MB size. You’ve to restart many times and fight hopelessness before you succeed!
But in these days of broadband, where connection is stable and speed is adequate even for big files, I don’t see a need for accelerators.
26-Oct-2012
Download Accelerators were a necessity in the days of dialups. As dialups usually break often, with abysmal speed, it would be difficult to download files of even 10 MB size. You’ve to restart a download many times and fight hopelessness before you succeed!
But in these days of broadband, where connection is stable and speed is adequate even for big files, I don’t see a need for accelerators.
I think it sounds somewhat telling that the asker specifically said they were having trouble downloading “free software.” Are they having problems with other types of downloads? Could the free software site they are using be the same site that is pushing DAP?