When it comes to speedy downloading, one name stands out from among many others. Rose City Software's Downshift continues to impress and make many customers happy with its excellent functionality. Downshift is among the prime download accelerators and download manager available today. It is also one of the most reliable, so users can already say goodbye to their slow download applications. Since the first version, Downshift underwent many changes and improvements to satisfy the needs of the downloading-savvy crowd better. With plenty of useful features and a user-friendly interface, it's no wonder why Downshift receives two-thumbs up and a 91% rating from critics and users alike.
With Downshift, downloading is now fast and easy. Users need not worry about incomplete downloads anymore because Downshift allows the resuming of file download. If the connection fails or if the power was cut, the resume feature allows file downloading to pick up where it left off. This saves the user time and effort from repeating the downloading process. It even redials a user's Internet connection so that the user can start downloading immediately. Multiple downloads is also possible with Downshift which makes downloading so much faster.
Downshift now even has a timer so it automatically shuts the computer down after it's done with its downloading tasks. Makes it easy for users who prefer to do other stuff than watching and waiting for his files to download. A user can just set the timer and leave it on its own to do its work. The application also has the capability to search websites where a user can download his files using FTP. It even speeds up downloading ten-fold by retrieving the portions of the same file from several servers. Usernames and passwords can also be stored using this nifty program. Organizing downloaded files into different folders can also be done with Downshift. The software can also be integrated with most browsers so a user won't have any problem with browser compatibility.
Disadvantages
Although Downshift's a great download accelerator, there are still a few things that it unfortunately lacks. Compression of file transfers cannot be done on ZIP, EXE, and RAR compressed types, which is one of its regrettable drawbacks. Also, before version 1.2, Downshift contains a bug which clashes with some downloaded files. The bug causes these files to function incorrectly which can be very frustrating especially after waiting for it to download for quite sometime. The developers at Rose City Software already fixed this bug so hopefully, issues with some files before would not be encountered anymore. There were also crashes when files are not found in segmenting in the prior version, but they already managed to fix it too.
Users would still have to configure a couple of settings to achieve the maximum efficiency for Downshift. This can become laborious especially for those people who want everything to be automatic. But once a user gets the right configurations, he won't have much difficulty running the application. The user-interface, albeit being very easy to use isn't much of an eye candy. There is a couple of things added on the interface that is useful, but the interface design is still quite boring. The disadvantages can easily be forgotten once users experience how good it performs its downloading tasks.
Price
If a user finds that he likes Downshift, he can easily purchase the software online through the publisher's site or from other reliable sites offering the program using his credit card. As opposed to other softwares of its kind, Downshift is comparatively inexpensive. For a price of just $25.00, a user can already enjoy Downshift for unlimited period. Just twenty-five bucks and a user can already enjoy unrestricted downloading. There's a refund guarantee of 30 days so potential buyers need not worry about losing their money if they feel that Downshift did not meet their expectations. But that would surely not happen with Downshift.
Software Size
Downshift does not take up much space, unlike other downloading applications that need a sizeable hard disk space. It only takes up 2.78 MB or 2,780 KB to be able to install this one in the user's PC. That's a small amount of space compared to the loads of stuff a user can get from it. This download accelerator may take up only a small hard disk capacity, but it is definitely far from being diminutive in practicality. The software size is small but it can download file sizes twice its own. The software is fully capable of downloading stuff with enormous file size, so there's no underestimating what Downshift can do.
Operating System Required/Compatibility
Downshift is compatible with most browsers like Firefox, Internet Explorer, Netscape, Mozilla, and many others. The software can be downloaded easily, provided that the user has the required components for it to run. This download accelerator requires that the computer uses a Windows operating system. It runs in almost all Windows version: Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, and XP. It runs strictly on Windows system so users who uses another type of operating system should not attempt to install it on their PC. This might just cause problems with the system and clashes with other applications.
Since it does not take much space, users need not remove other programs to accommodate Downshift in their PC. But the allowable file size to be downloaded largely depends on the formatting of the computer's hard drive. There are certain file size limits for certain hard disk formats. FAT format, for instance, has a 2 GB limit, FAT32 has a 4GB limit, while NTFS format does not have a file size limit at all. Users must know their hard drive's formatting so they would know what maximum file size to expect from Downshift. Also, the hard drive free space must at least be 600kb, while the processor must be at least be 66mhz.
License
Downshift is another shareware in the long line of great demowares from Rose City Software. Anybody can enjoy downloading for no cost. All they have to do is download the free trial version of Downshift from the publisher's site or from any other trustworthy sites. The free trial version does not require anything from the user. For thirty days, a user can make the most out of the software because the trial version allows full usage of numerous tools. However, after the evaluation period of the software expires, the user should purchase it so he can still continue using the software.
All content on this site are copyrighted and protected by law. The reviews are written exclusively for userreviews.com. Distribution, copying and in any other way re-using this information for private or commercial purpose is forbidden.
