I have noticed a slow deterioration in file downloading.
I used to be able to simply click on files, then sourceforge would open and the file would begin downloading.
But those were the good ol' days... because now, sourceforge never downloads any files and it's a real struggle to get anything happening, and I eventually have to give up and not able to download any files.
What's happened? Maybe you need to store your files elsewhere because you linking your files with sourceforge causes some obvious problems!
And for example, when I try to download files, IE just locks up/freezes up, my laptop fan goes berserk, and then nothing happens. And this morning I tried to get Notepad++, and after 5 minutes waiting, I got a message saying, "file not found or is not available".
I cannot successfully download any more files from portableapps.. something has gone terribly wrong with your website.
And when I try a different mirror, I select one, and then nothing happens, and I still cannot download the file, and after 5 minutes, I eventually see a message that says, "SOURCEFORGE - We are unable to display the page you requested."
Note: I can download files without problems from other websites!
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I haven't seen any deterioration at all using Sourceforge. It might vary a tad from day to day, but I find it to be as fast as or faster than other sites.
Of course, there have been a few outages from time to time, but I've not personally experienced them.
The problem might be local to SF mirrors in Australia, or your ISP. It might be affected by the browser you use. I use Firefox and the DownloadThemAll! extension, and I find that I can DL any average size app in under a minute, and OOo in under 5 minutes.
And I really don't think difficulties in downloading can really affect the behavior of your laptop fan, do you?
Maybe some other Aussies are having a similar issue?
I saw your post on the other thread for Opera.
Please try to understand that there simply aren't many similar complaints. I'm not denying that you are having serious download issues at all, but since most are not having these issues, it cannot be that the whole system is broken.
I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.
and I've had no problems downloading from SF, using Firefox or Google Chrome. I'd be more inclined to blame IE, but that's just me.
You didn't read my post properly! There is NOTHING WRONG with Sorceforge!! But there is something wrong when I click on files on portableapps that link to Sorceforge and they never want to download and always time out!
I don't use Opera as you suggest, I use IE and Firefox!
Is it all of Sourceforge or just PortableApps? Try clearing your cache and cookies, then see if you can select a different mirror, perhaps one a bit closer to home.
It just happens when I click on files on portableapps.
It keeps saying "Waiting for sorceforge.net...." and then no files is given to be download and it usually ends with an error message like, "SOURCEFORGE - We are unable to display the page you requested."
And if I choose another and different mirror, I select one, and then nothing happens, and I still cannot download the file, and after 5 minutes, it eventually says, "SOURCEFORGE - We are unable to display the page you requested."
And for example I also get messages like:
"The "/DamnVid_Portable/DamnVid Portable 1.6/DamnVidPortable_1.6.0.paf.exe" file could not be found or is not available. Please select another file."
The "/Notepad++ Portable/Notepad++ Portable 5.8.2/NotepadPlusPlusPortable_5.8.2.paf.exe" file could not be found or is not available. Please select another file.
The "/GIMP Portable/GIMP Portable 2.6.11 Rev 3/GIMPPortable_2.6.11_Rev_3.paf.exe" file could not be found or is not available. Please select another file.
I never had this problem with portablepps before. This started happening in the last few weeks. I cannot download any files at all from portableapps anymore.
What is going on? What is causing this?
I have tried using IE, Firefox and even Chrome, yet I cannot download any files from portableapps anymore
HELP?
those messages make it look like you tried to download shortly after the page announcing the new release went live....there's usually some down time between when the page goes live and SF actually registers that the files are there.
The developer formerly known as ZGitRDun8705
Just to note, depending on where you are in Australia, will depend on which of the two SourceForge mirrors you are handed. There is currently a known problem with one of them (Internode). It is generally fine for older files, but newer files - such as recent PortableApps releases - will not show up, you will get the file not found error and then will be redirected to another SourceForge page. As SourceForge defaults to 'auto' for the mirror, you may try going in and selecting the other mirror (Transact) manually (check the logo on the download page to see what mirror the files are coming from). I know the OP did say that they changed the mirror, but did not actually say which one they selected - I'm assuming they didn't pick Transact. The Transact mirror is working ok at the moment for PortableApps files, even the newly released ones (I myself have to keep changing the mirror manually to download from PortableApps as SourceForge sends me the Internode mirror every single time).
Also note that the Files link on the PortableApps SourceForge page will - 9 times out of 10 - just time out (500 error I think) when you try and access it. I believe that isn't a mirror problem though, it is just that there are so many files on that single page that if the website is under a little bit of load, it will not render. Hopefully one of these days the Files page will be cleaned up to improve performance.
I used to have a sig...until one of the mods ate it
I get that page timing out every time. I know that fairly recently, John posted a link to a slightly different SF page that also had the listing of all files, but simpler, and it loaded easily. I haven't been able to find that link since, tho.
I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.
Cool - if you do find it, you might post it here for the rest of us. I'd like to give it a try (I find that a lot of the Source Code download links here at PortableApps are broken and because of the broken link, that Files page tries to load instead - I don't mind manually looking in that list to find the Source Code download, but when the page only loads 1 time in 10, it is a bit hard to go through each time you just want the Source Code).
I used to have a sig...until one of the mods ate it
I actually use Internode as my ISP.
I try to select other mirrors, but I get error messages or time outs!
NO matter what mirror I choose, nothing happens and no file is downloaded. For example I selected Transact, and then select "Use this mirror", but then all it says is, "Your PortableApps.com: Portable Software/USB download will start shortly…". But then nothing happens!!!!! And if I then press "Direct Link" or "another mirror" the cycle continues and no file is downloaded!
I don't know what to do now and I cannot download any files anymore
I hope John is reading this because Internode is one of the most popular ISP's in Australia!
Yeah, I'm with Internode too. Here's the Whirlpool thread for the Internode mirror issue:
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1553205
Note that despite people noticing, no-one seems to have actually reported it to Internode though so they can fix it (I'm guilty of that too, I'm lazy and so I've been waiting for someone else to do the work for me).
How are you changing your mirror? This works for me:
1. Click the download link on the PortableApps page.
2. Wait for the SourceForge page to display.
3. Click the mirror button before the download can begin. If you wait until you get the error message, you are too late.
4. Select Transact, click Ok.
5. Get taken back to the SourceForge download page, download starts a few seconds later.
6. Have to re-select the mirror after every shutdown of my web browser though (manual Transact mirror will stay selected for the session if you have cookies enabled).
The other manual way to do this is to do steps 1 and 2. Then right click the direct download link and select copy to clipboard. Then, paste that link into your address bar and before you hit Enter, change the 'internode' on the end of the link to 'transact'. Once you hit Enter, it will then use the Transact link.
Edit: Oh, almost forgot. SourceForge requires JS to be enabled in your browser if you want the links to auto-load by your browser, otherwise some manual link clicking is required. If you are using Firefox and Noscript, you will need to allow JS for two domains: SourceForge and fsdn.com. Cookies may also be required for the mirror (not 100% sure on this one), and just in case, ensure you are sending the page referrer as well (PortableApps does make use of anti-leeching I believe). If any of these are disabled for PortableApps and SourceForge, your downloads may not work too well.
I used to have a sig...until one of the mods ate it
i have checked all servers in australia internode are definatly down but you can use transact or aarnet both in australia with no problems i contacted internode here in adelaide (where i live) am awaiting a reply
if you don't know-ee you should ASCII
I never get to step 5 where a download begins. It just stalls and nothing happens
But when I quickly press "direct link" it works. Thanks 
But wow, this shouldn't be happening and shouldn't so much work to download anything.
Many people won't bother coming back to this website when it doesn't work properly to download.
before you should not have any problem with downloads from transact or aarnet here in australia both are downloading all portableapps with no worries
if you don't know-ee you should ASCII
It's odd that step 5 is the problem. I've just checked the new FreeMat download (which doesn't work on the Internode mirror) to verify those steps, and I haven't left anything out. When I click the mirror link, I get the popup dialog with the list of mirrors, a click on the third entry (Transact) to select it and then another click on the Use This Mirror button down the bottom of the dialog, and a couple of seconds later, the dialog disappears and the file starts to download from Transact. You do have Javascript, url referral and cookies enabled in your browser? That's the only thing I can think of that would stop that working.
I used to have a sig...until one of the mods ate it
But it's annoying, so annoying I can't be bothered to download anymore files.
When downloading a file, it should be just a matter of one click, on a "DOWNLOAD" link, and that's it!
But now on portableapps, I feel it's a lot of hard work to download a single file which takes 6-7 clicks and mucking around just to get the file downloaded to my PC.
What happened to the ONE CLICK DOWNLOAD days?
The old one click download days!
Back when a gallon of milk was a nickel,
when you could leave your doors unlocked,
when neighbors said, "Howdy!"
when "a lot of hard work" meant digging ditches, raising children, or waiting tables for 12 hours.
I miss those days too.
I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.
It's simple, really. If we were hosting these files ourself on our main server, it'd cost us about US$20,000 a month in bandwidth, which would mean we'd probably be charging you per-download. By hosting on SF, we get the bandwidth for free in exchange for them showing an ad while their site redirects you to the actual download.
It sound like whatever SF mirror you're using is messed up somehow. I'd suggest figuring out which one so we can submit a problem ticket. I can't reproduce what you're seeing at all. It works every time just as it should from Firefox, IE or the updater.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
John, it's the INTERNODE link that's not working, hence I need to download, STOP before it begins or it will screw up, press another mirror, STOP, then download. Many clicks, a lot of hassle!
So please report to INTERNODE their link is broken. Internode is a huge ISP in Australia so many people are using it. Cheers.
It is definitely an issue with Internode and only Internode. It would appear all new files are failing and the mirrors are incorrectly configured when passing the user back to SF. Technically, if a given mirror doesn't have a file available yet, it's supposed to redirect back to SF at which point SF will redirect the user to another mirror. With Internode, this doesn't appear to be happening.
I have filed a ticket with SF support detailing the issue. Hopefully it will be resolved soon.
https://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/sourceforge/ticket/14621
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Approximately how long have these issues been going on?
I was kidding you, of course, in my last post, but in all seriousness, how long ago were these "good old days" before you had these issues?
It will be much easier to report and diagnose if an accurate time span can be given for the trouble.
Even for your own sake, if you can pinpoint when you first noticed the issue, then when you Google "Internode Sourceforge Errors 2010" you can see what other people have reported similar problems and it will help you determine exactly who you need to contact to resolve your issue. I believe that you have the right to directly contact Internode and/or Sourceforge yourself, na?
I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.
solanus, the good ol' days were the days where people were not so greedy as they are today and where people were not charging $20,000+ for bandwidth etc. The problems began when greed in mankind greatly intensified. I would say in the last 10 years, we have seen a huge increase in greed like history has never seen.
Hope that answers your question
You were saying that the download speeds for PortableApps have deteriorated, but it hasn't been around for 10 years. You've also only been a forum member for less than 3.
Your answer is kind of like you going to the doctor with a pain in your foot, and the doctor asking, "When did the pain start?" and you answering, "Well, the pain of human suffering has gotten worse since the dawn of the Industrial Age".
It's a lovely answer, but it does nothing to provide actionable information, and really doesn't have anything to do with your foot.
I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.
solanus, stop drinking so much coffee, you are getting confused. I am talking about the amount of mouse clicks needed to get a file to download. NOT talking about download speeds!
The good ol' days it was 1 or 2 mouse clicks and a file would start downloading. But these days, I need to click many many times for the file to begin downloading. It gets tedious, boring, too much work and effort to bother. YES I am lazy
I am a fan of coffee, and also of logic.
In your OP, you wrote:
This is saying that there was a point in real time when you did not notice the problem.
Let's call that timepoint A.
This is saying that at some point between timepoint A and now, you first noticed the problem.
Let's call that timepoint B.
If you want to report a real issue, you need to be able to say with a certain degree of accuracy what timepoint A is and also what timepoint B is. That helps the people who are trying to help you to correctly find the problem.
So, if you said, "When I first began to use PortableApps 3 years ago downloading was faster..." or "I noticed in the last six months, sourceforge times out every time...", then you help whoever's investigating to pinpoint the problem. I'm assuming you want the problem to get solved.
10 years as a system admin, I've gotten countless troubleshooting requests. They've varied in specificity. I've even had someone bang the mouse up and down and say "Mouse is broken!" when the computer had actually just frozen. But if someone would tell me exactly when they noticed the problem, it made it 10 times easier to resolve the issue.
So, I was really just asking if you could identify a date, or a month, or your best guess at a time when you first noticed the problem.
But I'll stop asking, and leave your problem to others.
I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.
Bandwidth costs are far down from where they were even a few years ago. But then most projects like ours weren't pushing out 35TB+ a month even a few years ago.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
It's all your fault John. You run such a great website and great apps that you have attracted too many people
BTW, love your cat, cute
UPDATE: The problem remains. Internode link is broken and I am still struggling to download files.
Remember there is *NOTHING AT ALL* we can do to fix this on our end. Nothing. Period. It is a SourceForge issue. There is a ticket in and the issue has been confirmed by SF.
The only thing you can do is set your mirror to something else manually, which you will need to do for now to download from SF. We can't do that for you. We can't do anything else for you until SF fixes the issue.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Why not try a proxy?
https://secrethelpcenter.com
try to download your app from there.
note that you may have problems trying to download files 400MB+ (because they don't want the servers to slow too much.
I've checked several recent releases and they seem to now be available on Internode for me. Can others please confirm?
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
For the last few days, all the SourceForge downloads have been directing me straight to the Transact mirror instead of Internode. All the downloads have worked fine (no need to manually change mirrors) just as an aside. A few minutes ago I tried the 5 new app updates you've just posted today, and the same thing - click the download link, straight to the Transact mirror, and all come through fine. I had been assuming that SourceForge had disabled the Internode mirror from your support ticket, but I don't know that for sure. Next time I have to download, I'll click the mirror link and see if Internode is still listed. If so, I will give it a try.
I used to have a sig...until one of the mods ate it
I just successfully downloaded PeaZipPortable 3.4 from the Internode mirror.
I've confirmed with SourceForge that the issue has been resolved.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!