Frequently Asked Questions

Q. In NV 2.41 I had the ability to run a job after the previous one finished. What's the equivalent in NV 3 so that I can single thread my jobs without any user intervention?

A. In Net Vampire, you can set the Max. Concurrent Connections option to 1 in the Network Settings dialog to emulate sequential mode. Note that this setting has priority over Max. Connections Per Site, the option that you set individually for each site.

Q. Why does the program start again from 0 every time I stop the download?

A. Some servers don't support restart. Look at the small green icon to the left of the Job in the list - this is an indication of the restart support. If the server doesn't support restart, use the Find function to search for alternate file locations.

Another reason of inability to restart is a misconfigured proxy. Some proxies ignore the restart request and serve a partially received file from the cache. If this is the case, try to use another proxy type in Net Vampire, in particular, HTTP CONNECT (change the Type option, leaving the rest of the options intact).

Q. Is Net Vampire Year 2000 compliant?

A. Yes, it is. Net Vampire stores all dates in a Y2K-compatible form.

The date display format used in NV follows the settings in the Windows Control Panel. To display a 4 digit year, open the Regional Settings -> Date dialog in the Windows Control Panel and set the date format to 'MM/dd/yyyy' or 'dd.mm.yyyy'.

While you are in the Regional Settings dialog, check your time display format. It should be 'hh:mm:ss tt' for the 12-hour display or 'HH:mm:ss' for the 24-hour display. Note the 'tt' letters in the 12-hour format. This insures that 'AM' or 'PM' is displayed properly.

Q. I unchecked the Confirm / Job Creation option, but the Add Job dialog pops up when I copy a URL to the Clipboard.

A. Clipboard Monitoring is an exception. You cannot suppress this dialog when adding links via the Clipboard - this is too dangerous, because the Clipboard is used for many purposes other than adding Jobs. You don't want everything that resembles a url to be added to the JobList automatically.

You can only suppress the dialog when adding Jobs through drag-and-drop, Alt-click, or using the Add command in the Links or Search panel.

Q. I cannot download due to an error recurring all the time: Error 11002: Non-Authoritative Host not found.

A. You seem to be behind a firewall and therefore have to configure Net Vampire to use your proxy. Please see the Proxy Settings section in this Manual.

Another possible reason is that you have a dialup connection to the Internet but your modem is not connected. You can configure Net Vampire to dial automatically, or you can establish the connection manually before starting the program.

Q. With many ftp servers Net Vampire works, with others not. Here an example where CuteFTP could get the index but NetVampire not:
[...]

A. Both IE 4 and Netscape 4 treat ftp paths as absolute, and Net Vampire follows this convention. CuteFTP, to the contrary, treats them as relative paths, that's why by specifying the root directory in the URL (i.e., ftp://24.226.3.208/ ) you obtain a listing for the /music directory. Try adding the path to the URL: ftp://24.226.3.208/music - this will work for both Net Vampire and your browser. The root directory at this server cannot be listed because the administrator has disabled this option.

Q. How about an indication that a file can be restarted?

A. Restart support is indicated with a small green icon to the left of the Job entry in the list.

Q. I turned off the Monitor Browser Clicks option and restarted the browser, but the changes didn't take affect.

A. On some systems, especially the ones that have Active Desktop installed, Internet Explorer doesn't get unloaded when you close the browser window. You need to reboot your computer.

Q. I can't seem to find a way to single thread jobs from multiple sites. I can set max connections to 1 but this only works for jobs from the same site. Am I missing something?

A. Network Settings / Max. Concurrent Connections limits the total number of connections, while Site Settings / Max. N Connections Per Site applies to the selected site.

Q. I have a dialup password stored in my phonebook, but Net Vampire ignores it.

A. Net Vapmire doesn't use the password saved in the Dialup Phonebook. You have to type your password in the Password field of the Dial-Up settings dialog.

Q. I am unable to download MP3 files from http://matter.cc.brandeis.edu/ignatiev/cgi/k2w.cgi/ignatiev/MP3/arrivals?k2w.cgi

A. This site requires the users to provide a correct Referrer header in the request. Open the Job Settings dialog in Net Vampire and type 'http://matter.cc.brandeis.edu/ignatiev/MP3/' in the Referrer edit box.

Q. My HTTP proxy doesn't support FTP restart.

A. Try using either the CONNECT proxy mode or Socks4 mode. Use the same proxy address as in HTTP Proxy mode. The port number is usually the same for CONNECT and 1080 for Socks.

Q. Since the software relies on a browser of some sort to browse through ftp site, I wonder how I can handle site that are not anonymous.

A. To browse a non-anonymous ftp site with IE or Netscape, add your login info to the url: ftp://username:password@host/dir/ If you drag a link to NV from the browser, login info is passed to NV as well.

Q. When the data stops coming, NV keeps waiting instead of restarting immediately.

A. Use the Timeout / Data setting in the Site Settings dialog to specify for how long NV will wait for the data before restarting. The default value is 500 seconds which guarantees that NV will not break the connection by mistake even with very slow sites. This is a site-specific setting, i.e., once set, it will be used by all Jobs downloading from this site.

Q. Is there any way you can set the default directory to save the files.

A. The Destination Folders list in the Destination Folders dialog has a DEFAULT entry. The files will be moved to this directory unless you explicitly set a category or destination folder in the Job Settings.

Q. I do mass downloads. With the old one, if I already had downloaded a file it would pop up and say file already exists this version seems to download it to as a temp files. So I could download duplicate files.

A. This feature allows you to download different files with the same name - some file names, such as index.html, are very popular. NV2 didn't allow you to work with more than one such file at a time, but Net Vampire doesn't have this limitation. However, the program checks for duplicate file names in the job list and suggests to add a URL to the location list of the existing Job rather than create a new job. Duplicate _URLs_ are always rejected.

Q. How can I make Norton AntiVirus check my downloaded files?

A.

• on the Net Vampire top menu panel, go to: "Options | System Settings | Post-processing";
• check the "Run Program" box, select the 2nd radio button (unlabeled);
• enter the path to the NAV program (or use the "browse" feature to find it).

Q. In the window 'proxy settings' most of the fields are disabled

A. Only the options applicable to the selected proxy type are enabled in the Proxy Settings dialog. When you click on another radio button in the Type group, all applicable fields will be enabled. To enable the User and Password fields, check the Authenticate box.

Q. How can I resume a download started by another program?

A. Use the Import Partial File command in the Jobs section of the Main Menu

Q. How do I list url links in the downloaded web page?

A. Just select the file in the JobList and click on the Links tab.

Q. Net Vampire seems to only download 4 or 5 files at a time even with max concurrent connections set to 25.

A. Net Vampire allows you to specify both the total number of concurrent connections and the max. number of connections to each site individually. The latter is handy when you are connecting to a site that allows a limited number of concurrent anonymous connections.

To change this setting, rightclick on the job and select Site Settings in the popup menu.

You can change the default value for this setting (the one that will be used for all new sites) in Options / Default / Site Settings.

Q. What is the History File for?

A. Net Vampire keeps a full list of Jobs, either completed or deleted before completion, in the History file. Select File / View History file in the main menu to open this file in your browser. The file is html-formatted, so you can re-add any Job by Alt-clicking on the link or by dragging the link from the History file to NV. For successfully completed Jobs, you can click on the 'local link' to open the received file.

Q. How to activate sound?

A.

• Select the Sounds tab page in the System Settings dialog;
• Check the Sounds Enabled checkbox;
• Select the event you want to be confirmed with a sound in the list of events;
• Select the desired sound from the drop-down list or click on the Browse button and select a WAV file;
• Click the Play button to test the selected sound;
• Click the OK button.

Q. Do I need to change any settings before I start downloading files?

A. The default settings work well in most cases. You don't have to change anything to make the program work, except for the proxy and dial-up settings, as described in the Quick Start section. The rest of the settings allow you to fine-tune NV and make it even more efficient. However, since network conditions may vary greatly, you will need to do some experimenting in order to find optimum values.

Q. How to switch between the split-window and multi-column view modes?

A. A small button at the bottom of the left panel does the trick.

Q. Why are the job settings split between 2 dialogs?

A. The settings in these dialogs apply to different objects. If you change something in the Job Settings dialog, it will only affect the selected job; any changes in the Site Settings dialog will affect all jobs downloading from this site.

Q. I have one site that freezes up when entering pasv mode. It would be nice to have a switch for whether or not to use pasv mode for specific sites.

A. You can add two entries to the proxy list, one with PASV on and one with PASV off - then you will be able to select desired configuration for each site from the dropdown list.

Q. Net Vampire doesn't seem to hangup.

A. NV will only hang up connections established using the Phone Book entry selected in the Dial Up Settings dialog - dropping all modem connections would cause problems to those who have more than one connection (some people use the modem for online banking, FIDO, etc.). To make Hangup work properly, select the correct phonebook entry even if you are not using the Dial-Up feature.

Q. I tried to run Net Vampire and got the following message: 'This control requires version 4.70 or greater of COMCTL32.DLL'. I am using Netscape 4.04, not Internet Explorer.

A. Fortunately, Microsoft made its new DLLs available separately from the browser. Find the file called '40comupd.exe' using the following query and run it - this will update the DLLs on your system.

Q. In version 2.41 I used to delete the job and restart with the same filename but different location. This seems to be impossible to do in V.3.x

A. With Net Vampire 4.0 you don't need to delete and re-create jobs and import partially received files. You can add alternative locations to the same job and switch between them on the fly using the Locations command in the popup menu.

When you change locations, don't forget to check off the Ignore File Time Change option in the Job Settings dialog as file date/time is usually different on different servers.

Q. How to use the following setting: 'Process VSL files'? What is VSL and what is the effect of having it ON and OFF?

A. www.download.com provides its own method of file downloading. When you click the Download Now button at this site, it sends you a small VSL file with downloading instructions instead of the file that you requested. Net Vampire will parse this file and follow the instructions in it if this option is turned on, otherwise it will just save the VSL file on the disk.

Q. When do we use HTTP Get/Post, HTTP Connect, ... SocksV4?

A. An http proxy can be used for both web and ftp downloads. The standard mode of such proxies is HTTP Get/Post. If you are not satisfied with the proxy behavior - for example, if it keeps sending you a corrupted file from its cache instead of requesting a fresh copy from the remote server, or if it doesn't support restart for ftp downloads, try other proxy options.

If you have an FTP proxy, try using it for ftp downloads instead of an http proxy. NV supports 4 different ftp proxy login schemes - try each of them to see which one is appropriate for your proxy, or ask your network administrator which scheme to use.

HTTP Connect and SocksV4 modes emulate direct connection to the remote server - i.e., in these modes the proxy is not allowed to modify your queries and remote server replies.

For more detail, see the Proxy Support section.

Q. What should we use for the following settings : Default for Gopher, Default for HTTP, etc.

A. NV allows you to use multiple proxies. For each site you are downloading from, you can select a suitable proxy from the dropdown list. When you are adding a job with a new site in the url (the site that you have never worked with before), the proxy setting for this site will be chosen according to the Default for Gopher, Default for HTTP, etc. settings. For example, you can set your http proxy as default for HTTP sites and SocksV4 proxy for FTP sites.

Q. With the internet explorer it's often difficult to log in to ftp sites (server returned bla bla extention) and if one wants to download an entire directory, clicking and dropping the link doesn't work.

A. Though Net Vampire is not an FTP browser, it provides an easy way to download some or all files from the FTP directory even if you cannot open this directory in your browser. Create a new Job and enter a URL pointing to the FTP direrctory. N.V. will build a directory listing (retrying as many times as necessary) and save it in HTML format. Then you can click the Links tab and see the full list of files in the directory, or choose Open Received File in the Job List context menu to load the listing file in the browser. You can select files on the Links panel, either manually or using a filter, and add them to the Job List. This approach is also helpful if you need to download many files listed on a web page - say, a graphics or MP3 collection. Just download this page with Net Vampire and use the Links list.

Q. I cannot downlaod ZIP files from WebJump, such as http://retroworld.webjump.com/sh.zip

A. WebJump is an advertiser-sponsored hosting service. When you request a file, the server sends you a special html page (a so-called frameset) which contains a link to their banner and the correct URL for the requested file. Download this document, then click on the Links tab to list all links in the page, and select the one that points to your file. The correct URL for the file mentioned in your question is http://216.49.10.245/re/retroworld-webjump/sh.zip

Q. How to use the following setting: 'Job settings|Advanced--> Referrer'? What does the "Referrer" mean and how to use it. How to use the following setting: 'System settings| Pre-processing| -->Import cookies from browser'? What's the meaning and what is the difference of having it ON and OFF?

A. In most cases, Referrer and Cookies don't affect your downloads. These settings only play a role when the site has a special script to restrict downloads, then you can enable Cookies and set Referrer to the address of the page on which you found the download link.

Q. How to use the following setting: 'Site settings|General--> Allow STAT command'? What is STAT command and what is the effect of having it ON and OFF?

A. The STAT option must be on, unless you have an old type of proxy that chashes when it receives the STAT ftp command.

Q. Net Vampire says download complete, but file size is only 2kb instead of 5Mb.

A. Some web servers have a bad habit of sending you an html page that explains why your file request cannot be served. They don't indicate an error in the reply header, so Net Vampire has no way to know that this web page is not what you requested. Change the extension of the received file to .htm and open it in your browser to see the page, this will help you understand why the server was unable to send you the file.

Q. I have found tree user agent in netvampire3.3 . There are Net = Vampire/3.3 Mozilla/4.04 [en] (Win95; I ;Nav) and Mozilla/4.0 = (compatible; MSIE 4.01; Windows 95). Which is the best?

A. Usually this doesn't matter. Only if the server refuses to serve the = file because it is designed to work with a particular version of browser = (which is a very rare case), you can change the User Agent option to = match the server's expectations.

Q. What do you mean by browser monitoring?

A. When browser monitoring is turned on Net Vampire will intercept browser downloads and direct them to Net Vampire.

Q. I am using a site that requires a password to dowload the file. What can I do?

A. There are two methods of requesting passwords at the web sites. If a login dialog opens when you enter the page, you have to put your login info in Site Settings -> Login in Net Vampire; if the password field is an edit box in the web page, type your password there and run Net Vampire without closing the browser. In the latter case, the Import Cookies option must be on in Net Vampire.

Q. Hello, I'm using NetVampire and I've a problem when downloding. The message I've is "E 26/05/00 21:32:04 Winsock.FD_CONNECT error 10060: Connection timed out". What can I do about this problem?

A. If this happens to all your Jobs, you are probably behind a firewall. Then configure Net Vampire to use a proxy as described in the Proxy Settings of the User's Manual. If this error occurs only to one of the Jobs, this is a network problem - either network congestion, or the site is down. Keep trying, or find another server with the same file using the Find function in Net Vampire.

Q. I have found that when I try and download from the internet by clicking on a hyperlink Net Vampire doesn't start automatically even with the browser clicks ticked. Should it? And if so can you help?

A. Hold the Alt key down when clicking on the link to download with Net Vampire, or click without Alt to open the link in the browser.

Q. Geocities is always show as suporting to restart downloads, but it is always restarting at the beginning of the file. Am I doing something wrong, or is there somethinf wierd with geocities?

A. When it comes to downloads, Geocities acts as a proxy, i.e., it passes = your queries to other sites. This is almost seamless to the user, but = sometimes when requesting a file from Geocities, you receive an html = page saying that the proxy failed to connect to the server - even if you = are using a direct connection! Though Geocities itself seems to support restart, the sites that = actually serve you the file may not - that's why the downloads often = start over. The only solution to this problem is to find another site = that has the same file - the easiest way to do this is with the Net = Vampire Find function.

Q. I have a little question for you: if I want to close a file before its real end ( example: stopping an avi file at 60% and playig it with a media player), how could I do it? I tried to rename it but the file results corrupted. I hope it is possible to close a partial file.

A. You do not have to stop your download to view the partially received = avi. Just right-click on the Job and click on Open Received File in the = popup menu while the file is being downloaded. Shortcut: select the Job = in the list and press Enter. You can do so with other file types as = well.

Q. How can I download an entire directory with its subdirectories ?

A. Net Vampire doesn't have built-in functions for recursing directories. It was designed to download individual 'hard to get' files, such as huge ZIP's or MP3's. However, you can download the url that points to an ftp directory, then all available files will be listed on the Links tab. You can add either all or selected files to the Job List with a popup menu command.

Q. How can i use the "links" and "zip" tab, in the "job" tab (on the left side). I've nothing found in the manual about this.

A. The "Zip" tab is only useful if you download a zip file. In that case the "zip" tab displays contents of a zip file(even if it is only partially downloaded) and allows you to extract files from a zip archive. The "Links" tab only works for html files. It shows you a list of all links on the html page. You can select some or all links on this tab and add them to the download queue using the right-click menu.

Q. How can I increase the number of started tasks simultaneously?

A. Just change Max. Concurrent Connections in the Network Settings dialog. If more than 3 of your Jobs download from the same site, increase Max. Connections per Site in the Site Settings dialog as well.

Q. After months of downloading from many sites, I've collected many username and password from ftp sites; however, I couldn't keep track of the passwords. Is there a way of retrieving the passwords for cases like, hard drive formating, transfering to a new computer?

A. Net Vampire stores passwords and other site specific information in the Net Vampire\Data\Sites\*.nvs files. You can back up these files or transfer them to another computer. Information stored in these files can be viewed on the Sites tab page in Net Vampire. To view the password, open the Site Settings dialog and Ctrl-doubleclick on the Password field.

Q. After months of downloading from many sites, I've collected many username and password from ftp sites; however, I couldn't keep track of the passwords. Is there a way of retrieving the passwords for cases like, hard drive formating, transfering to a new computer?

A. Net Vampire stores passwords and other site specific information in the Net Vampire\Data\Sites\*.nvs files. You can back up these files or transfer them to another computer. Information stored in these files can be viewed on the Sites tab page in Net Vampire. To view the password, open the Site Settings dialog and Ctrl-doubleclick on the Password field.