Need to finish downloads before I can use a file

[hazar]

I've recently been having a few problems with downloading files, including things like embedded video and audio files as well as generally downloading files.

Firstly I would just like to say that the problem I am having is almost certainly a problem with my os, the problem stretches over IE, firefox and chrome as well as itunes.

Basically the problem is that when I start downloading something nothing happens until the download is finished, for example I recently downloaded itunes (At the time I thought it was just an itunes problem and I was buying things from the itunes store) the download page just hung for a while with the little loading wheel going round and round then suddenly it asked where I would like to save the file, as usual, however when I chose where to save the file it immediately finished the download, and that was that.

This to me seemed a bit odd, but not really a problem seeing as I was downloading a file anyway.

But then I noticed that when I tried to play an embedded swf on a website that it just sat for a long time doing nothing, I tried refreshing and such things but eventually gave up, about 5 mins later the video started playing, having being completely downloaded. The same thing happens on youtube where the video needs to completely download before it starts playing.

Now generally this wouldn't be much of a problem but it is starting to really frustrate me as I am, at the moment, using a 512kb connection, which makes waiting for things to finish downloading painfully slow.

So my question is: Does anyone know what could be causing my computer to not be able to use files until they are completely downloaded?

Thanks

tl;dr

Videos, audio wont play and files wont ask where to be saved until the download is completely finished. How can I make things so that when I'm, say, trying to watch a video on youtube it will allow me to watch the video as it is downloading rather than waiting for it to finish before it will play.

[Xlphos]

Hello,

So you are saying that you are having problems watching video streams?
Have you up to date versions of flash, web browsers, operating system and run anti-malware programs?

- Let us know how it goes.

[hazar]

the problem isn't just with videos and audio, any file that I need to download, no matter what the file is, will not be "used" until it is completely downloaded.

here is what happens when I try to download a file:

1. Click download
2. Computer downloads file
3. Asked for confirmation to download file
4. Asked where to save file

This is what should happen:

1. Click download
2. Asked for confirmation to download file
3. Asked where to save file
4. Computer downloads file

similarly when attempting to watch a video on youtube what happens is:

1. click play
2. video loads completely
3. Video plays

what should happen

1. click play
2. video loads to a certain point
3. video begins playing
4. as video is playing more of the video is downloaded until the entire video is downloaded

I am wondering why it is that on all applications that access the internet my computer simply will not handle files until they have been completely downloaded

[Xlphos]

Maybe you should run a virus scan just to check.
You could try booting in safe mode and try downloading a file.
Something you could try out of curiosity is to listen to a radio station over the internet and see what happens, considering that is something that you can't download it may react differently.

[hazar]

sorry, I probably should have mentioned that before

if I'm streaming something, like online radio it works fine. Its only with things which can be downloaded that it need to download.

My computer is virus free, last scan was completed 2 hours ago with kaspersky Internet Security 2010, completely updated databases. The problem has been around consistently for about 2 days

Probably should have also mentioned that this sometimes happened to me prior to this instance but on a less permanent basis, and it only happened if I had been downloading a large amount and then it only effected the web browser I had downloaded with, for example if I had downloaded maybe 50 gig with firefox it would suddenly stop asking me for download confirmation.

On that note I am fairly confident that the problem will eventually go away, it always has before, even if all I had to do the last few times was restart my browser, so what I am more interested in is the likely cause of the problem.

Also just another thing that I just thought of, I am almost certain that this has nothing to do with it but just before the problem started I installed a 2TB hdd and did some fairly significant moving around files from my other disks, mostly so that I could reformat one of the other 2TB disks, which was, for some unknown reason formatted to FAT32... but on that disk was also the location of the default download location for chrome.... so I was just thinking that perhaps when I copied everything from that HDD so I could reformat it may have done something as that was where my "downloads" folder was linked to.

[Xlphos]

Hello,

I use firefox; try going to tools > options and under the general tab click on always ask me where to save files. Now try to download something. What happens?

You may consider backing everything up and try a system restore; this may solve the problem but won't find the cause, it maybe worth considering later. I would backup anyways, just in cause.

- Let us know how it goes.

btw, you could have converted the FAT32 drive to NTFS without needing to format it via command prompt.

[hazar]

At the moment I already have always ask me where to save files checked.

Thanks for the tip about converting a FAT32 drive to NTFS, I didn't realise it was so easy.