What Download Manager?

[Background Noise]

Looking for recommendations for dowload managers. Mostly for interruptions/broken downloads but speeder-uppers would be a bonus. (Also advice on ones to avoid)

(Done a search on here but with no notable results) Ta.

[timmcat]

Never had a problem with Getright.. has some advertising, but the benefit of being able to resume broken downloads is worth the small penalty.

Re speeder uppers... try Dr. Salmans Power Tools for Windoze.. this worked quite well on my old laptop, but don't expect miracles.....


Tim

[ACK]

I use Download Accelerator. Never had a problem with it. :)

Download Accelerator (http://download.com.com/3000-2071-10037157.html)

[What_does_this_button_do?]

ACK note this (taken from download.com):

Editor's note: This ad-supported software includes technology that will serve banner advertisments through the program interface.

This usually means it's loaded with SpyWare too! Gator corporation as usually the worst at this.......

[timmcat]

...just as an aside, for anyone concerned about Spyware on their system, I can recommend 'Spybot' - its freeware, and will scan local drives for any rogue programs you probably did'nt know you had.

Developers download page here. (http://security.kolla.de/index.php?lang=en&page=download)

Tim

[ACK]

I am aware of that fact, however my system ALSO includes a Spyware detector.

grrr

[Mushroom_2]

Try Star Downloader - and it's free

[mainfrog2]

Metaproducts Download Express (http://www.metaproducts.com/mp/default.asp)


I'm trying this one at the moment as it's <300K to download and is very simple to use it doesn't have any advertising and is free if you download the Express version. It allows you to resume downloads and also allows you to vary the amount of resources it uses.



Star download kept butting in when I tried to log onto websites

Download Accelerator hogs the resources on your connection (some pages wouldn't load when it was downloading)

Fresh download just annoyed me.

[Binoculars]

Well, I use Download Accelerator. Its prime function seems to be the ability to resume, and have multiple downloads going at once, which are both handy, and I haven't noticed any major spyware problems. I always reject anything from Gator as a matter of principle.

But surely these things are overrated? I mean your download speed is limited by your connection, isn't it? Surely a 56kbps modem can only download at a maximum of 7KB/sec? If I have four things downloading at the same time, all other things being equal, they will each be downloading at a quarter of the speed that one thing would be. No? 'Tis my experience anyway.

A useful product, but certainly not worth paying for.

[18-Wheeler]

I use www.opera.com as it's got a good download manager, and it's a much better browser in many ways than either IE or Netscape. Faster & more reliable than the other two at the very least.

[Mac the Knife]

I'm using the registered (paid-for) version of GetRight & it works like a charm.

Binos, even if your dialup connection COULD connect at 56K (I get 49K on a good day) the data isn't coming from the download server (which has to look after lots of requests simultaneously) at anything like that rate. What GetRight does is find mirror servers that also have copies of the file(s) you want and downloads separate bits of the file(s) from each.

From the help file: "If there are several servers where a file can be downloaded, GetRight can segment the file and download different pieces from different servers at the same time. For some Internet connections, this can dramatically improve the speed of the file download. For example: if your modem can transfer at 6.0k per second, and there are 6 servers for downloading the file, but they each will only send data at 1.0k per second, GetRight can download from all 6 at the same time. So, instead of getting just 1.0k per second, it could get the full 6.0k per second your modem will allow--six times the speed without Segmented downloading. Segmented downloading is most useful if there is one file you really want to get as fast as possible.

To help spread around the server usage, and keep from "annoying" some server administrators, GetRight will not use the same server for downloading more than three segments of the same file. If you do not have alternates for a file, you may do three segments to the same server. If you have alternate addresses (mirrors) for a file for GetRight will allow up to eight segments total (so at least 3 mirrors to do all eight). The file must also be at least 100k in size for Segmented downloading to be available.

NOTE: This is not guaranteed to help improve the speed for all downloads. Your experience will vary depending on many factors, including your modem, your Internet Service Provider, the servers you are downloading from, and Internet traffic in general. But if your download is reaching only a fraction of the speed at which your modem is connected, this can really help."

[Binoculars]

Thanks Mac. I suppose I was just lucky in that I had a regular 52K connection and rarely dropped below 5KB/sec. I suppose there were also times when I didn't realize that had I not been using the accelerator I wouldn't have been getting the speed I was.

As I said, I'm quite happy to use it, but I don't think I ever noticed a real difference; just handy for the resume function. And the price is certainly right. :)