Having issues downloading, please set me straight.

[lohp75]

I'm pretty new to mac, and here lately i'm experiencing d/l problems from file servers like megaupload, fileserve, filesonic, and others like those. I can d/l from other sites like the app store and sourceforge and other sites like those. can someone please set me straight on what happened and what i can do to fix the issue. I also should have stated earlier that when i do try to d/l from those file servers all i will get d/l'd is like 4kb and it's done. i can go and get the same file from a different computer just fine though, so i know it has to do with my MBP 13 running osx Lion 10.7.2. Please help

Thank you.

 

[Makosuke]

Having used a number of those sites I can tell you that they generally work fine, so it's not an OS-level issue. Usually when you get a 4kb file, it means that there was an error in the download redirect--opening the file will reveal a 404 text page or something similar (occasionally it can actually tell you what's wrong).

You didn't say what browser you're using; just the default Safari? Try another browser and see if the behavior is the same--Firefox and/or Chrome (or try Safari if you're using something else). If the problem still happens with another browser, that narrows it down--post the results and somebody may be able to help.

(Unnecessary aside: Those download services are pretty much a hive of scum and villainy and pirated porn whose entire business model is built around people too cheap to actually pay for content, but not too cheap to pay for faster downloads. If you must, though, the Java-based Jdownloader works well on a Mac to queue up a set of downloads and just prompt you for the captchas as necessary--it's backhanded, but then so is Megaupload.)

 

[lohp75]

Your right I forgot to mention that I've tried both safari and chrome with same results. Don't much care for Firefox. I also forgot to mention I'm a bit of an android dev and from time to time certain tools, scripts and etc that I use have been uploaded to those sites instead of dropbox or a personal server lol. Thank you for the reply .

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[Makosuke]

That does clarify, but even if you don't like Firefox (I don't, either), have you tried it just to confirm that it's not a Webkit issue? That's unlikely, but just for the data point.

Either way, though, it's got to be something specific to your setup; I just tested ten minutes ago and had no trouble downloading a hefty file from Megaupload via either Safari or Firefox (nor have I ever).

Random things I can think of, just to ask: Do you have any kind of a proxy setup? Is there anything different about the way your Mac is connecting to the internet (wired vs. wireless, maybe)? Are you using any non-stock popup/redirect/javascript/ad blocker scripts or add-ons? Maybe some dev tool that might be modifying HTTP calls in some way?

 

[lohp75]

@Makosuke, thank you for your time, thoughts, and trying it out yourself. This morning after I read your last post you really got me thinking, none of the tools have a need to change http cuz they don't communicate with anything other than github. I do use little snitch so I can what's going on behind pretty UI curtain lol. But ( your going to laugh at me here) back when I first got my mac I heard they were pretty much immune to attacks but I believe nothing is immune so I bought and installed Norton :rookiemaneuver: . After I updated my osx to the bleeding edge lion is when this all started. So this morning I got to thinking about that useless Norton and went ahead and uninstalled it, rebooted and tried a 16mb file from fileserve and it went fine. So I believe u helped me think about my setup immensely and removed crapware that was roadblocking me . Again thank you very much for your time. If I have no other probs I will change the status of the OP to solved.

Update: it was that crapware norton i installed that didnt like to play along with lion. Just tried another one from a diff server and no probs. Thank you very much again.
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[lohp75]

having trouble changing OP to solved lol.

 

[Makosuke]

Glad you got it worked out, and in no way surprised that it was Norton to blame.

Easy mistake to make, and in general terms it never hurts to be cautious. For what it's worth, a lot of people used to use Norton products on the Mac--10-20 years ago they were the go-to company on disk utilities on the Mac. These days they have a reputation for doing FAR more harm than good--horror stories are rampant, and yours is comparatively mild.

I don't currently recommend running a virus checker on a Mac, but if you feel the need for whatever reason, we've had relatively good luck with Sophos here at work--the entire enterprise switched from Symantec to Sophos a year ago (and I can see why--we had a virus walk right past Symantec Enterprise and infect several Windows computers off a USB stick, when even a free checker found it properly).

 

[GGJstudios]

I don't currently recommend running a virus checker on a Mac, but if you feel the need for whatever reason, we've had relatively good luck with Sophos

You don't need any 3rd party antivirus software to protect Mac OS X from malware. Macs are not immune to malware, but no true viruses exist in the wild that can run on Mac OS X, and there never have been any since it was released 10 years ago. The only malware in the wild that can affect Mac OS X is a handful of trojans, which can be easily avoided with some basic education, common sense and care in what software you install. Also, Mac OS X Snow Leopard and Lion have anti-malware protection built in, further reducing the need for 3rd party antivirus apps.

Mac Virus/Malware Info​

If you insist on running 3rd party antivirus software:

• ClamXav is a good choice, since it isn't a resource hog, detects both Mac and Windows malware and doesn't run with elevated privileges. You can run scans when you choose, rather than leaving it running all the time, slowing your system.
• Sophos should be avoided, as it could actually increase your Mac's vulnerability, as described here and here... and here.
• iAntiVirus has an inaccurate malware definitions list that includes many items that aren't even malware, so their detection accuracy is untrustworthy. This post will give details.

 

[lohp75]

@GGJstudios, thank you for your input. I have already read all that in another post and have completely given up on 3rd part AV crapware. My macs firewall is turned on and I'm invisible to pings and port scans so I feel better now without AV.

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