This might be of interest if you're into uploading or downloading large files. In my case, I don't have a TV so I download my few weekly shows from Usenet a few days afterward. They're high-res and usually about a gig in size. Likewise, when I upload a 1-hour documentary to one of my web sites, they're also often a gig in size. Since I'm using a slow Verizon Wireless connection, this can take some serious time, like three or four hours.
And during that time, because I'm doing other things on the computer, I might suddenly need to reboot. Hence the problem.
Below the fold I'll reveal what I know about continuing stopped uploads and downloads. I recently made a fascinating discovery about Firefox that I wanted to pass along. Unlike Internet Exploder, it can actually continue broken downloads, but, naturally, there's a trick to it.
Downloads
Traditionally, a download manager is used whenever possible. I use GetRight. This allows you to resume a broken or halted download later on, assuming the server the file is on supports resumed downloads. Some don't.
Internet Explorer doesn't have an option or workaround for resuming downloads. Once the connection's broken, it's toast.
Firefox is the same way, except there's a semi-sneaky way around it:
1. Click the 'Pause/Resume' button in the download box.
2. Close the box. You'll notice a partial file in the download area with a ".part" file extension. If you're not seeing file extensions on your computer, open Control Panel, 'Folder Options', click on the 'View' tab, uncheck 'Hide extensions...'.
3. Do whatever it is you needed to do, like reboot.
4. To resume the download, double-click on the saved part. If that 'Where do you want to go?' box pops up, go to the computer. When the 'Open with' box pops up, look for a 'Firefox' entry. There probably won't be one. Click 'Browse' and browse to the actual Firefox EXE file. It'll probably be in a 'Mozilla Firefox' folder inside of 'Program Files'.
5. A blank Firefox window and the selection box should open. Select 'Save file'. Click 'OK' and the download box should pop open with the file paused.
6. Click the Pause/Resume button and the download should continue.
It leaves a ".part" file in the download area afterward; just delete it.
Firefox should now be associated with '.part' files and should automatically start the resume process when future icons are double-clicked on.
Note: I've noticed occasionally that the Pause/Resume button is ghosted out and not working. If so, the above process won't work.
As a small aside, if you don't like that "Where do you want to go?" box popping up when double-clicking on an 'unknown' file and would rather it go directly to the 'Open with' box, there's a Registry tweak on my Windows 7 setup page that does it.
Uploads
This presumes you're uploading large files to a web site via an FTP program. Most of the better ones (FileZilla, WS_FTP) allow for resumed uploads. If you try to copy a file to the site and there's already one there by that name, the program should ask you if you want to 'Overwrite', 'Resume' or 'Cancel'.
The trouble with this scenario is that web- and blogmasters are always overwriting little files, and it's a pain to have the ask-you box pop up every time. So what I do is use FileZilla for normal operations, where the settings are told to 'Always overwrite' the file, and WS_FTP with its pesky-but-necessary ask-you box for uploading large files. The 'resume' feature also works a tad easier than FileZilla.
FileZilla is available here. WS_FTP used to be freeware but is now commercial. The old freeware version is here.
If you want to temporarily halt an upload, the two programs do it slightly different ways.
In FileZilla, right-click on the entry in the bottom box and 'Remove selected'. Do whatever it is you have to do, then fire up FileZilla and go to the site. Start the file transfer again and the ask-you box should pop up. Select 'Resume' and you're off.
In WS_FTP, right-click on the entry in the Transfer Box and 'Pause'. Close the Transfer Box, the program, then do whatever it is you needed to do, like reboot. When you get reconnected to the site, go to the View menu and select 'Transfer Manager'. Click the little arrow to resume. A box should pop up with a 'Resume' option and you're good to go.
