An accelerator tool that is an add-on for BearShare to enhance download speeds.

Pros: The BearShare Ultra Accelerator is an add-on for the BearShare peer to peer (P2P) file sharing application. It overcomes some limitations of the BearShare and improves the overall downloading performance – increased download speeds and reduced download times. One of the primary reasons how it does so is by frequently checking to see if there are more peers online that have a particular file that is currently being downloaded. As and when new peers are discovered (perhaps more frequently than BearShare does on its own) it ends up improving the download speed. Secondly, it utilizes all available bandwidth at the user’s end and therefore over long periods it has faster average speeds than just a BearShare application running. Additional features are pretty standard for this kind of add-on: automatic resumption of paused downloads; managing frequent stop/start connections by appropriately stop/starting downloads; configuration information is saved on exiting of the application, or on computer shut down and this is reloaded on startup resulting in all incomplete downloads being resumed; and completed and invalid files are cleared automatically.

Cons: The simple interface allows for no customization. This is great for beginners and average users but more advanced users will find this frustrating.

Overall: 4 stars. Functional in enhancing download speeds, especially on slower connections. But no customization limits its use to average internet users, not enough here for advanced users.