Feb 15 2013

Free Download Manager (FDM) Downloads stop at 99%

Category: Broadband,Internet,Opensource — Kamlesh @ 12:13 am

Since c0uple of months, I am facing the problem of FDM hanging at 99%.  See the below screenshot:

Free Download Manager FDM hangs at 99%
This problem is happening randomly and mostly with Microsoft download sites. It stops downloading the files anywhere between 90 to 99%, most of the time it stops at 99%.

I use Free Download Manager heavily to download files, because it provides me better download speed as well as resume support.

It took couple of weeks to try some alternatives and come up with my own solution for this problem.
As a workaround, I am using the below workaround which is working well on my BSNL EVDO Internet.

Option 0(zero):

  • Double click on the file which has stopped downloading at 99%
  • In the Download Properties dialog box, uncheck the Maximum Number of attempts option as down below:

Uncheck Maximum Number of Attempts in FDM

  • Disconnect internet connection
  • Connect the Internet connection again
  • Open the Free Download Manager

Option 1 (one):

  • Close the Free Download Manager application
  • Disconnect internet connection
  • Connect the Internet connection again
  • Open the Free Download Manager

Option 2(two):

  • Close the Free Download Manager application
  • Goto Connection Properties
  • Select the Networking tab
  • Choose Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and click Properties
  • Change the DNS Server setting from “Obtain DNS server address automatically” to “Use specific DNS server”.  I provide Google DNS 8.8.8.8 and 4.4.4.4
  • Click OK button to close the open dialogue box.  It will alert you that the new settings will come into effect after we reconnect.
  • Disconnect your connection
  • Connect again to Internet
  • Open the Free Download Manager application

And, it starts downloading the file.

Sometimes just one option does not work.  I need to try combinations of all the above options to resolve the problem.  I feel this is something to do with the restrictions on the Download Server, which is limiting downloads from specific IP address.

And this works perfectly for me.

My current system specification is:
- Windows 8 Pro
- Free Download Manager (Light edition) – version 3.9.2 build 1289
- EVDO CDMA based USB Internet Data card (Provider – BSNL)

Hope this helps to fix your problem.

Sep 16 2012

Firefox DownloadHelper Zero Bytes

Category: Browsers,Opensource,Technology — Kamlesh @ 11:38 am

Considering the Internet Bandwidth/Plans/Cost in India, I prefer to download favorite YouTube videos for Offline Viewing.  This helps me enjoy the videos without buffering. To achieve this, I am using Video Download Helper plug-in on Firefox.  Since past few days, when I download the video using Download Helper, it just downloads zero bytes file.

Firefox Plugin - Video DownloadHelper downloads 0 bytes

The above problem was acknowledged by Video DownloadHelper website, stating the following statement:

September 14th 2012 YouTube issue – We are aware of the problem that occurred on Sept 14th (13th if you are in the US). This is due to some changes YouTube just made. We are working hard at solving the issue. Please, give us a little bit of time and refrain from downrating the addon.

In fact, the Developers of this add-on provided a quick work-around by providing a beta version 4.9.10b2 of plugin for users. You can access this beta version from this link.  This helped many users to fix the zero bytes download problem.

Flash Update:

Download Helper version 4.9.10 (final release) Just after writing above post, when I restarted my Firefox, my DownloadHelper plug-in got upgraded to final version 4.9.10

 

Thanks to the Developers of this add-on to provide a quick fix for this problem. I am now able to download the YouTube videos without the zero bytes problem.

Mar 28 2010

Notepad++ Plugin Manager and NppExec prompting for Updates frequently (Fixed)

Category: Opensource,Vista,Windows 7 — Kamlesh @ 11:19 am

Since a month, whenever I launched Notepad++, it was finding Plugin Manager updates and prompting me to update online. The updates were shown for both Plugin Manager and NppExec components (Refer the current and new version details below):

Available updates for Notepad++ Plugins

Everytime, I used to choose “YES” for online updates; it used to download the updates, show me progress bar and restart Notepad++.

Downloading Notepad++ Plugin updates

Strangely this used to happen regularly – I was wondering why is Notepad++ team releasing so frequent updates!!!  When I digged into the problem, I came to know that my Updates where not getting applied on Windows 7 due to permission issues.

To fix this, you have to start Notepad++ as Administrator and then run Plugin Manager updates.  It’s the similar problem with Notepad++ Updater, as I wrote in my last post.  My existing Plugin Manger version (Plugins -> Plugin Manager -> About) is now having the latest version 0.9.3.1 released in February 2010:

Plugins -> Plugin Manager -> About

Hope this helps you to fix your problem.

Mar 21 2010

Notepad++ Update Error – The requested operation requires elevation

Category: Opensource,Vista,Windows 7 — Kamlesh @ 4:39 pm

Recently when I tried to Update Notepad++ online on Windows 7 Operating System, I received “The requested operation requires elevation.” error (Exception 1002).  Such errors were not seen earlier on Windows XP Operating System.

Notepad++ Update Error

This error appears because Notepad++ needs Administrative rights in Windows 7/Vista.  To fix this problem, start Notepad++ with Run as Administrator option and then try Update option.

Notepad++ - Run as Administrator

Notepad++ (latest version 5.6.8) is one of the most popular Open Source Text Editor, which is available freely for developers.  Its very useful for Administrator permission to execute the Updater.

Applies to: Windows 7, Windows Vista

Apr 12 2009

Ubuntu 9.04 releasing 23-Apr-2009

Category: Opensource — Kamlesh @ 3:46 pm

The upcoming version of Ubuntu version 9.04 (code name – Jaunty Jackalope) is all set to release on 23-Apr-2009. This beta version can be downloaded from the official website. The last stable release of Ubuntu was version 8.10 released on 30-Oct-2008.

The Ubuntu (one of the best Linux distribution) project makes two releases per year, using the year and month of the release as the version number. The first Ubuntu release, for example, was Ubuntu 4.10 and was released on October 20, 2004. Consequently, version numbers for future versions are provisional; if the release is delayed until a different month to that planned, the version number changes accordingly.

Official Home Page / Wiki

Mar 07 2009

PHP Developers are highly satisfied!

Category: Opensource,Scripting — Kamlesh @ 11:00 pm
A new survey from Evans Data of over 500 developers, asked questions in 12 different categories to see which dynamic languages they like best. The study asked about Ruby, Python, Perl, Java script, Flex and VB script and the overall crown went to PHP. Ruby placed second followed by Python and then Perl. The 12 categories ranked by Evans data were: Ease of Use, Exception handling, Extensibility, Maintainability / Readability, Cross-platform portability, Community, Availability of tools, Quality of tools, Performance, Memory management, Client side scripting and Security.

The study concluded that PHP was the best all around scripting language for web applications with a large community and lots of readily available tools. Ruby was the easiest to use and thus the most accessible, but suffers from performance problems and a tiny community, while Python showed itself to be the best suited for creating large and complex applications.

Languages in the survey included: Actionscript, Flex, Java Script, Microsoft F#, Windows Powershell, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby and VB Script.