Readers Questions.
IF01749
Q.
When I go to download something new on my computer, every once in awhile, it
just stops in the middle of the process. Can you give me any reasons why this
type of hang up happens? Any help would be wonderful!
A.
I actually came up with several reasons as to why this might be happening. It
really is an unfortunate problem to have and beyond that, it's so frustrating to
try and figure out why it only happens every once in awhile. If it's going to
happen at all, why not all the time, right?
1. The
most common cause is a lost Internet connection. If you happen to lose
your Internet connection at any time during a download, it will instantly fail.
There's no ifs, ands or buts about it; the downloading process requires an
Internet connection. So, if your download stops, be sure to check your
connection first. If you lost it, connect again and start over. That's pretty
much all there is to that.
2. The
second most common cause is a lost server connection. If your computer
happens to lose its connection with the server you're downloading from, the
download will fail. This one doesn't really have anything to do with you or your
computer though. It basically means that there's a problem with the other
computer or the connections that lie between. Either way, you'll just have to
wait for those on the other end to fix the problem and try the download again.
3. The
third possible cause is a timed out connection. If what you're trying to
download takes too long, the server will probably end up timing out, which means
your download will stop in the middle of the process. A timed out session could
be caused by various things, including a server overload, too slow of an
Internet connection or if your overall Internet is just running slow. All of
those are normal conditions from time to time, so it's nothing to really worry
about too much.
Okay, so
now that you know what the three main causes are, what are some solutions? Well,
as I've already mentioned a few times, the best thing to do is just try to run
the download again. Doing this will usually allow the download to complete. Now,
you may not want to try it again right away. It's usually best to wait a little
while and just let things fix themselves. If you go back a couple hours later,
you should be able to get the full download. This is especially true if you're
trying to download a file that you know is very popular or if it's something
that was just released. Just like you, everyone else is trying to get it, so if
you just wait until a later time, you may have a better chance of getting it on
the first attempt.
Another
solution is to get the download from a different server. If the file is really
popular, it's likely that other servers will have the same one and you can get
it from there. You can usually do this by searching for it on your favorite
search engine. That's probably your best bet!
Now, if
you are having trouble with pretty much everything you download, you may want to
look into getting a download manager. A download manager will be able to monitor
your downloads and often times, they can help resume the download right where it
left off. There are several download managers available, with a lot of free ones
as well. To find one, do a search on your favorite search engine and see what
you can come up with. It may just be the answer to all your downloading
problems!
And last,
but not least is a suggestion to maybe upgrade to a broadband Internet
connection. If you're still using another Internet connection, especially
dial-up, that may be the cause of all your downloading trouble. Slower
connections can cause all sorts of problems, with download hang ups definitely
being one of them. If you're able to, just look into the broadband option and
see if it may work better for you.
These are
all just suggestions, so if you don't think they'd work out for you, don't try
them. But, in all actuality, they really will help with your download dilemmas.
Let me know if you need anything else.
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