There was a time when internet connections were not fast at all, there was a maximum of 5 or 6 Kbye per second, and it took a lifetime to download any file such as a program or an audio file. The big trouble was that the internet connection was never too stable and if it came off during a download, then you had to start over and it was terribly frustrating. The "download manager" programs were thus invented, which not only allowed to manage simultaneous downloads of multiple files from the internet, but were also able to resume interrupted downloads without starting them over again and, in some cases, to accelerate the downloads of large files by dividing them into small pieces and downloading them simultaneously. I remember, at the time, having used the Getright program, which still exists today as a paid software despite being now practically useless or in any case not so essential. Fortunately, in fact, today almost all web browsers have, without extensions, the function to resume downloads from where they were left, both if intentionally interrupted or if they stopped because the Internet has disconnected, because the light has gone out or for errors of all kinds. Provided that the site you are downloading from is still online, with Chrome and Firefox you can resume an interrupted download making any external "download manager" type program obsolete.
Resume downloads with Chrome
This feature of resuming downloads, which at the moment seems to me a very normal thing, was not so obvious if you think that up to a few months ago the most used browser in the world Google Chrome did not have this functionality in itself. Fortunately today, starting from version 50 I believe, Chrome also, like Firefox and Internet Explorer, has a download manager worthy of the name, which allows you to resume paused or interrupted downloads even if you turn off the PC, and then resume them on reboot, even the next day. If you are using Chrome, just click the button with three lines in the upper right corner and open the download tab (also by pressing the CTRL-J keys together).
From the list of downloaded files, you should first see what was being done with the key to resume it.
The file will be downloaded from where it arrived. The only thing to watch out for in Chrome, as well as with other browsers, is not to press the Cancel button because in this way the partial download is canceled and you will have to resume it from scratch. No problem, however, to resume downloading a file if you exit Chrome. In this case, closing Chrome during a download, a threatening window appears asking if you want to cancel the download or continue and keep Chrome open. Here you can safely press Cancel and close Chrome and, if you want, also turn off the computer, because, this is the real news in the latest versions, the download can then be continued when you reopen Chrome, from the download tab.
READ ALSO: Manage downloads and files downloaded in Chrome: extensions and options
Resume downloads with Firefox
Firefox has long supported the download resume and manages downloads in a window that is conveniently accessible from the down arrow button at the top right. If the arrow is not visible, press the menu button to find it. The Firefox download manager has an old-fashioned look, with the ability to view the history of downloaded files and organize them into labels if you want. For each interrupted download, just press the arrow key and then the spiral arrow key to try to download again, starting from the point where you arrived and not from scratch.
Resume Downloads on Internet Explorer
You can also download files with pause and resume from Internet Explorer, using its download manager which works quite well despite its seniority. To see the current downloads in Internet Explorer, just press the CTRL J keys or go to the main menu from the options button at the top right.
Likewise, Safari on Mac also supports recovery of downloads without having to start over.
Which modern browser today does not support the resumption of downloads and asks to start again from scratch if it is interrupted "> Free Download Manager of which I spoke in another article. I remember that Microsoft makes available one, no longer updated since 2011, called Microsoft Download Manager.
