diff --git a/Project.toml b/Project.toml
index 9e0a49a9..9cc6c795 100644
--- a/Project.toml
+++ b/Project.toml
@@ -1,11 +1,12 @@
 name = "Polymake"
 uuid = "d720cf60-89b5-51f5-aff5-213f193123e7"
 repo = "https://github.com/oscar-system/Polymake.jl.git"
-version = "0.11.9"
+version = "0.11.10"
 
 [deps]
 BinaryWrappers = "f01c122e-0ea1-4f85-ad8f-907073ad7a9f"
 CxxWrap = "1f15a43c-97ca-5a2a-ae31-89f07a497df4"
+Downloads = "f43a241f-c20a-4ad4-852c-f6b1247861c6"
 JSON = "682c06a0-de6a-54ab-a142-c8b1cf79cde6"
 Libdl = "8f399da3-3557-5675-b5ff-fb832c97cbdb"
 Mongoc = "4fe8b98c-fc19-5c23-8ec2-168ff83495f2"
@@ -25,10 +26,11 @@ polymake_oscarnumber_jll = "10f31823-b687-53e6-9f29-edb9d4da9f9f"
 [compat]
 BinaryWrappers = "~0.1.0"
 CxxWrap = "~0.14"
+Downloads = "^1.4"
 JSON = "^0.20, ^0.21"
 Libdl = "^1.6"
 Mongoc = "~0.6.0, ~0.7.0, ~0.8.0, ~0.9.0"
-MozillaCACerts_jll = "2020 - 2023"
+MozillaCACerts_jll = "2020 - 2024"
 Ninja_jll = "^1.11.1"
 Perl_jll = "^5.34.0"
 Pkg = "^1.6"
diff --git a/src/Polymake.jl b/src/Polymake.jl
index d4bbd743..ce7fde64 100644
--- a/src/Polymake.jl
+++ b/src/Polymake.jl
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import Base: ==, <, <=, *, -, +, //, ^, div, rem, one, zero,
     union, union!
 
 import Pkg
+import Downloads
 import JSON
 
 using SparseArrays
@@ -181,8 +182,16 @@ function __init__()
     # to avoid conflicts between symlinks and directories we switch to a new depstree folder name
     polymake_deps_tree = @get_scratch!("$(scratch_key)_depstree_v2")
 
+    @static if isdefined(Downloads, :default_downloader!)
+      # work around long Downloads.jl timer
+      Downloads.default_downloader!(Downloads.Downloader(grace=0.01))
+    end
     # we run this on every init to make sure all artifacts still exist
     prepare_deps_tree(polymake_deps_tree)
+    @static if isdefined(Downloads, :default_downloader!)
+      # restore default
+      Downloads.default_downloader!()
+    end
 
     polymake_user_dir = @get_scratch!("$(scratch_key)_userdir")