According to spbot.info the best are "LeechGet, followed by Download Express. Both are easy to very easy to use, have a nice looking (but not too crowded) user interface, are spyware-clean and free for personal use."
Is this so? And do download managers really increase downloading speeds? Will them make downloads from P2P applications run faster?
I am only interested in spyware/adware/virus free programs.
All answers appreciated.
I don't think they do anything for download speed, but of course that comment is based upon my usage of dial-up Internet access.
The main focus, or should I say main feature of any download manager without the faster download speed hype should be the following:
* Resume broken downloads.
* Manage downloads by automatically downloading into a default download directory without asking the user where to download files, that in itself makes it easy to find all downloads without having to search for them. It also makes it easy to virus scan all downloads in one shot via a right click on the download folder.
Some are malware free, it's easier to find out which ones are if you download them from Softpedia.com, since it gives an all clean reference via an image stating that the software is clean.
Although you stated you wanted a free one, the only one I can say that I have ever truely loved is the commercially available Download Mage which I think is worth every cent.
Most download managers seems to bundled with all sorts of crap.
Personally I like Wget. http://www.gnu.org/software/wget/
Hmm, different opinions here, I'm not sure.. Well, maybe in the future, but to be honest I am always changing around where I put my files (and as are other people on this PC), so maybe its not worth it.
I've been quite happy with Free Download Manager, it is spyware and adware free. Though its user interface takes a little figuring out, it's really easy to use once you get the hang of it.
It will automatically send downloads to a pre-selected folder, but the option to change the location is easily available. It has an option to have your AV program scan all downloads automatically, so you don't have to worry about finding them to scan them.
<Edit> Added download link: http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/
Another DL manager I like which is free/open-source is Wackget, it also has an extension for Firefox users. I don't think it has resume capabilities, however for anyone with a high-speed connection that may not matter. It's based upon or is a GUI for wget which Eldmannen already linked to.
Well, thanks, I'll think about it.
Another DL manager I like which is free/open-source is Wackget, it also has an extension for Firefox users. I don't think it has resume capabilities, however for anyone with a high-speed connection that may not matter. It's based upon or is a GUI for wget which Eldmannen already linked to.
sure Wackget has resume capabilities... however, it does not SPLIT downloads into segments. (which i think is unnecessary anyway...)
If there is an unfinished download in the download folder, and you start a download with the same filename, Wackget will resume where the first left off. It can be a problem if you download DIFFERENT files with the same filename... like a 1.jpg or whatever.
That's good information to know. The only reason I removed Wackget was because I thought it couldn't resume downloads, looks like I'll be reinstalling it.
Split downloads is the hype some download managers rave about which supposedly allows for faster downloading, I've never seen such a feature give me any speed boost, which I suppose would have to be thoroughly tested to be credited or discredited. Split downloads can however save a download that would otherwise fail when one download server is really slow, I've seen that happen multiple times when downloading for instance QuickTime Alternative.
Some of us dont need download managers. <cough>
Got a 10 mbit/s Internet connection. 2 Months and it will be 100 mbit/s downstream and 10 mbit/s upstreams.
Crikey! And I thought my 512 kbs connection wasn't half bad!
FreshDownload
I think this is the best free download manager. Some places claim it has adware or spyware, but it does not (perhaps earlier versions did, but current versions are clean).
It integrates with Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. It works with Windows XP SP2. You can choose which columns to display, customize colors and fonts, even add a background picture. Many settings & options are available.