Do You Guys Notice That A Download Will Pause For A Long Time At 99%?

[Brian]

Whenever I download a medium size to large size file, it seems that once it gets to 99% the whole computer essentially stops responding, up to a full minute will go by and then I hear the little *dink* sound indicating the download has completed and the computer starts responding again. This happens a lot for me and not just for large files but even for ones that are under 10MB.

I don't recall it doing this kind of thing in the past. A download would just speedily happen with no pause or interruption. It's only in the past year or so that I have seen this behaviour at 99%.

Has anyone else ever noticed this kind of thing happening on their machines?

[Slyder]

I've never had the computer stop responding at the end of a d/l. I have noticed that some downloads seem to stop at 99% for a minute or so for years. I always took it as the computer was 'organizing' (for lack of a better word) the file at the end.

Torrents will sometimes hang at 99% for a long time, depending on where your getting the file from.

[ctal]

I too have noticed that happening, in the past year or so, although the symptoms in my case are not as severe. I think it may have started with the introduction of IE7.

I believe that what is going on is that the file is initially downloaded into the temporary internet files cache, and when you see the 99% indication the download has completed, and during the subsequent pause the file is copied from there to the save location that you had specified. Also, the downloaded file will often put the size of the cache over the limit specified in the control panel settings, which I think would mean that the browser would be triggered to go through the entire cache, discard the oldest files, and compact the rest. Finally, depending on the size of the downloaded file there may be swapping to virtual memory occurring, and the page file may be getting cleaned up at the end of the process.

Perhaps prior to IE7, downloads were performed directly to the specified save location (although that is just speculation on my part), and for some reason IE7 changed the methodology to initially download to the temporary internet files cache. I do recall seeing something on the screen at one point that convinced me that is how IE7 is handling downloads, but I don't know if that represents a change from IE6 and earlier.

Regards,
-- Al

[ctal]

Can't edit post for some reason, so I'll add this separately. Try changing the allowable size of your browser cache, and see if that helps.

Regards,
-- Al

[traveler]

I think you're right in your first post ctal. It's the OS/computer doing end-of-download housekeepping.

[TQ]

It might also be that your DSL/cable modem is going south. Last year we began to notice hung/slow downloads and tracked it down to an ancient DSL modem that we'd been using for several years. Once we replaced it the problem went away.

[ATINUT]

I had this problem up until March, including random disconnects using an AMBIT cable modem. I replaced that sucker with a Motorola Surfboard 5100 cable modem, and my troubles went away.