Download Managers Guide

[sharedholder]

Talking about clean/spyware infected download managers...

Download Accelerator Plus (7, dubious privacy policy)
A few versions back, Download Accelerator Plus came even without a privacy policy, and the one found in a hidden place online contained some bad terms. Today, during the installation a license agreement will be shown, and this license agreement contains a privacy policy. It's still quite misleading and contradicting though, speaking about co-registrations with other services on the one hand, but only anonymous publishing on the other hand. How a registration with other services can be done anonymously is beyond my understanding...
In addition, just starting it opens half a dozen connections to ad servers, including Cydoor. Couldn't deal with the downloads on the site I used for this tests, as it always tried to download the download page, blocking the load of it inside the browser. On other pages, it worked ok. Still, even if you neglect the ads and possible spying, there are other download managers that are easier to use.

Download Express (1.4 build 233 SR 1, spyware-clean, free for non-commercial use)
Download Express is freeware for personal use, and quite fast in downloading as it splits every download and downloads it with 10 connections (like nearly all download managers in this list do). Its IE integration is working nicely, its download dialog is informative (though its quite flickering - a small thing the developers should fix). The German localization I tested is not complete, but at least there are a lot of localizations.

FlashGet (1.40, spyware-infected or paid mode)
FlashGet can be installed in two modes - one ad-sponsored, one ad-free shareware mode that needs registering. I tried the ad-sponsored version, and indeed it did install Cydoor.
The interface by the way reminds me strong of one of the other tools I tested (screenshots will be added later to this article). With only 5 simultanous download connections, it was only half as fast as Download Express, but it can be set to use up to ten.
My opinion about this one is that you can get better download managers for free.

FreshDownload (6.50, spyware-clean, free for personal use)
The IE integration of FreshDownload had problems during my tests and tried to download HTML pages as files, but once downloaded identified them as such and re-opened them in the browser. It doesn't have a lot of features, but it has the necessary ones and comes along with an easy to use interface. Too bad it doesn't uninstall completely.

GetIt (1.04, spyware-clean, freeware)
Not very easy to use. In fact, the browser integration and the save dialogs need a lot of work. Until that work is done, I wouldn't recommend using it.

GetRight (5.02, spyware-clean, free trial)
GetRight has been one the first download managers around; in the early days spyware infected, but clean today. GetRight is not free, and doesn't have too many features compared to some other download managers in this test, but it's reliable and its IE integration works better than that of many others. If you already use it and don't miss any features, there are not many reasons to switch.

Go!Zilla (1.44.39, spyware-infected, 30-day trial)
Only a trial, and then also infected with eZula and Radiate. Does also installs a Smart Explorer, a browser that did phone home when starting it and will keep in memory. The browser integration wasn't working either, and crashing IE instead. With so many good and clean alternatives, keep your fingers from this one.

Internet Download Manager (3.1.8, spyware-clean, 60-day trial)
IDMs advantage is an easy to use user interface and integration into many browsers.

LeechGet 2003 (1.0 RC3 build 1500, spyware-clean, free for personal use)
LeechGet has the biggest graphical overload, but it's nicely designed and very informative. LeechGet is free for personal use, but you have to pay for commercial use and/or for for removing some limits. It doesn't install any adware or spyware, and has more features than most managers I tested. It has also been recommended by c't as the best freeware solution. It works with IE as well as Opera, Netscape or Mozilla (even Firebird).

Lightning Download (1.2.1, spyware-free, free 30-day trial)
From the same makers as GetRight (HeadLight Software, Inc.) comes Lightning Download. My first suspicion was that they created it because some people may mistrust GetRight because of its infected past, but its clean as well, and working like it should, and it's easy to use (I specially like that it shows URLs that are in clipboard inside the tray icon menu to quickly start downloading them).

NetAnts (1.25, spyware-infected)
Not only that the NetAnts interface looks more complicated to use than most other tested download managers, it is infected with Cydoor.

Net Transport (spyware-clean, free for non-commercial)
Net Transport also behaved quite well, is spyware free, available at no cost and in many languages.

ReGet (Deluxe 3.3, spyware-clean, 30-day trial)
Actually not a bad one, having different modes for newbies up to pros, a usable interface, and a good browser integration. 16 streams at the same time is the highest default I found so far, but as I would recommend 10 to 20 with DSL for larger downloads anyway, that's not bad at all.

Star Downloader (1.42, spyware-clean, freeware).
The link on their website downloaded an older version (1.42), and right upon the first start Star Downloader told me there was a newer one available (1.50). Sniffing the network traffic though it became clear that all that this update lookup is a clean anonymous thing. Star Downloader is free and spyware-clean. It supports the major browsers, and after changing some options, it worked quite well.

WGET (1.6.x to 1.8.x, spyware-clean, GNU freeware)
WGET is my all-time favorite. It offers more options than any of the other tools I tested (except splitting the download - at least I haven't found that option yet ;) ), but the downside is that it is a command line utitility. You should have some command line knowledge to use it, or take a look at some of the GUIs (graphical user interfaces, I'll try to add some links to those later) for WGET that are out there. While the other tested download managers are all for Windows, WGET is available for Linux, MacOS and some other Operating Systems.

Still to be tested: NetLeech, Sun Download Manager, Download Mage

Conclusion: And the winner is ... 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.

Credit goes to : Patrick Kolla (http://www.safer-networking.org/print.php?page=articles&detail=download-managers)

[shn]

Nice.

I recommend wget if one knows how to use it. It can get and resume files and it uses a lot less memory. Works good on windows too. :)

[Rip The Jacker]

I was actually looking for a new download manager, excellent post sharedholder! B)

[sharedholder]

DownloadPlus! (http://filesharingtalk.com/index.php?showtopic=104854) also free and spyware clean.

[ck-uk]

I dont use one ,

flashget was always tops imo

I have to do something today catch you tonight. :)

[winXPHE]

tough choice, leechget sux.
need a download manager which splits files, takes less memory, pause resume function n works well wit IE. wats ur say shared?

[zapjb]

I'm using NetTransport lately.

[DarthInsinuate]

i&#39;ve also been using Net Transport since the Flashget/spyware thing - it&#39;s a good alternative because its sooo similar <_< , it does lack one or two features, like: quick speed limiting, some browser monitoring options, and mirrors (wait that&#39;s three things)

[sharedholder]

Actually i&#39;m using NetTransport.

New good download manager spyware free :

DownloadStudio

Author Description :

Download files from the internet as much as 500% faster&#33;

Download files, programs, images, video, audio, flash, complete web sites, complete FTP sites, and much more.

Get &#39;under-the-hood&#39; and interactively walk through web sites and FTP sites.

Organize downloaded files into categories so they are easy to find.

View thumbnails of all downloaded files using the built-in image and file viewer. View full-sized images of files with the Instant Viewer. Over 150 file formats supported.

Download streaming audio and video from Microsoft Streaming Web servers (WMV, WMA, WAX, WVX, ASF). Capture streamed output from Real and QuickTime servers and save to your favorite file format (WMV, AVI, WMA, WAV).

Works with all internet connections (ADSL, cable, ISDN, dialup modem, etc.), firewalls, and proxy servers on your computer.


Power your downloads with DownloadStudio&#33;
DownloadStudio uses the latest technologies to maximize your internet bandwidth and download files fast. Its multi-threaded, multi-connection and file splitting technologies means you can download many files at the same time.

Get &#39;under-the-hood&#39; and interactively walk through web sites and FTP sites&#33;
DownloadStudio contains a visual site explorer that lets you see all the files contained in web sites and FTP sites. This lets you choose what files you want to download before you download them.

Get all the pictures from web sites and FTP sites&#33;
DownloadStudio can find and download all the images contained on web sites and FTP sites. You have full control over what to download. You can choose file types (e.g. JPG or GIF), file sizes, only recent files and more. Now you can get all your favorite pictures&#33;

Download video clips from web sites and FTP sites&#33;
DownloadStudio downloads video clips contained on web sites and FTP sites. All file formats are supported - WMV, AVI, MOV, etc. It fully supports direct downloading of streaming video from Windows Streaming servers (WMV, WVX, ASF). It can also capture the streamed output from other streaming servers.

Get your favorite audio clips from web sites and FTP sites&#33;
DownloadStudio gets audio clips contained on web sites and FTP sites. All file formats are supported - WMA, MP3, WAV, etc. It fully supports direct downloading of streaming audio from Windows Streaming servers (WMA, WAX, ASF). It can also capture the streamed output from other streaming servers.

View your downloaded files with the built-in file and image browser&#33;
DownloadStudio comes complete with a visual file browser that displays thumbnails for the files that you have downloaded. Over 150 files formats can be displayed. The Instant Viewer lets you quickly see full-sized images of your files. Detailed properties about files are displayed. It&#39;s like having your own image browser built into your internet download manager&#33;

Organize all your files using categories&#33;
You&#39;ll never lose a file again using DownloadStudio&#39;s categories. Categories are virtual folders that allow you to collect all your related files together. They help you keep all your files together and make it easy to find them later. DownloadStudio&#39;s high performance database technology means that your files are only a click away&#33;

DownloadStudio is the perfect partner for Internet Explorer&#33;
If you use Microsoft Internet Explorer as your web browser, then you&#39;ll love DownloadStudio. It has a special download toolbar that helps you download all the files and web pages as you browse the internet. It also has a special menu that lets you download certain images and links that appear on web pages. Advanced click monitoring catches all your download clicks in Internet Explorer so you will never have to download the slow way again&#33;

Image Resized
http://www.conceiva.com/products/downloadstudio/images/screenshot1.gif' width='200' height='120' border='0' alt='click for full size view'></a>

Image Resized
[img]http://images.webattack.com/screenfiles/downloadstudio.gif' width='200' height='120' border='0' alt='click for full size view'> (http://www.conceiva.com/products/downloadstudio/images/screenshot1.gif' target='image'>[img)

<a href='http://www.conceiva.com/products/downloadstudio/default.asp]WEBSITE

[sharedholder]

How about to pin this topic ? Lot of people are asking about.

[SP1]

Id Recommend Internet Download Accelerator, has a nice interface, abundance of features and is spyware free, unfortunately it&#39;s shareware, but tht doesnt stop most ppl ;)

IDA Features (http://www.westbyte.com/ida/index.phtml?page=features&tmp=1&lng=English)

[Rip The Jacker]

Originally posted by SP1@18 March 2004 - 11:29
Id Recommend Internet Download Accelerator, has a nice interface, abundance of features and is spyware free, unfortunately it&#39;s shareware, but tht doesnt stop most ppl ;)

IDA Features (http://www.westbyte.com/ida/index.phtml?page=features&tmp=1&lng=English)
I used to have DAP (damn spyware), then I tried LeechGet, I didn&#39;t like it too much. I downloaded IDA, and so far its fantastic&#33; Thanks for the recommendation SP1&#33; :)

@sharedholder
This is a good thread, wait and see what pol thinks.

[winXPHE]

IDA is good shared try it, i was pretty impressed. not much crap like preview n shit :blink:

[sharedholder]

Net Transport 1.85a (Mar 20, 2004)

Net Transport, one of the fastest and most powerful downloading tools that is ever made available online for free access and distribution, now features unprecedented full support of the most prevalent Internet protocols.

( spyware,ad-aware free )

Modified a severe bug that when checking "Start main window minimized" user cannot operate any jobs unless clicking "category" window firstly.
Net Transport 1.85 (Mar 19, 2004)

Modified some places where caused program frozen.
Added support for SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol), whose name prefix is "sftp://".

**

MIRROR (ftp://nettransport:[email protected]/NT2Setup_multi.EXE)

** edit - DDL removed

[bulio]

is use download plus :lol:

[uNz[i]]

I changed over to NetTransport after hearing about the spyware in Flashget.
The only Flashget feature I miss is the manual download speed throttling.

Everything else is pretty much identical. B)

[GrubMe]

What is the BEST more USER friendly to use?
easy...
not spyware
just right?

What is it?
Download Plus?

[sharedholder]

No spyware : NetTransport & Download Plus&#33;

[h1]

Originally posted by shn@18 March 2004 - 02:45
Nice.

I recommend wget if one knows how to use it. It can get and resume files and it uses a lot less memory. Works good on windows too. :)
:lol:

[Horsemen]

Can you use Net Transport to download from wares like FlashGet.Does it have a referrer url box.

[sharedholder]

Originally posted by Horsemen@21 March 2004 - 20:36
Can you use Net Transport to download from wares like FlashGet.Does it have a referrer url box.
Yes.

[sharedholder]

Fresh Download 6.80 RELEASED


Fresh Download is an easy-to-use and very fast download manager software that turbo charges downloading files from the Internet, such as your favorite freeware/shareware, mp3 files, movie files, picture collections, etc. Unlike any other similar utilities, this software is 100% free, no charges, no banners in the software (which steal your bandwidth) , no spyware.
Key features of Fresh Download:

- Turbo charge downloading files in both FTP and HTTP protocols using your current internet connection (dial-up, cable, DSL / ADSL, satellite, T1, etc.)

- Pause and resume broken downloads, recover from a dropped Internet connection.

- Multiple connections download manager. To get the highest possible speed, this powerful tool uses 4 simultaneous connections (up to 8 connections) for the same file, while many other similar software only support single connection download. Based on user reports, this method may speed up your downloads by up to 400%

- Easy integration into Internet Explorer, Netscape Communicator, Opera, and Mozilla in any Windows operating system (95, 98, Me, NT, 2000, and XP). Simply grabs any URL from these popular browsers and Fresh Download will take over.

- Schedule your downloads for low traffic periods.

- Clipboard monitoring and drag drop features. Easily grabs any URL from any applications&#33;

Antivirus support. Scan downloaded files from any viruses using your current antivirus software&#33;

- Ability to download from password protected sites, in both HTTP and FTP protocols.

- Proxy Server support in both HTTP and FTP protocols.

- Built-in Zip file extractor


WEBSITE & DOWNLOAD (http://www.freshdevices.com/freshdown.html)

[Mullyman]

There have been a few issues with Fresh Download....it buries it self deep into your registry and is very hard to rid yourself of it...i gave it a try to see for myself..i found it worked efficiently well with no noticeable problems...but when i unistalled it...it left a lot of hidden items in my PC....I read in some other forums where people experienced much worse conflicts with Fresh Download.

[sharedholder]

WinGet 1.6 Freeware

WinGet is an easy to use and small download accelerator that speeds up your download time by splitting the file into multiple threads while downloading, thereby maximizing the potential of your internet connection. The program can integrate with Internet Explorer and automatically take over the download for selected file types. WinGet is a good, basic download manager/accelerator. It lacks some advanced features and does not (yet) support cookies or authentication, so you could run into problems with some sites.

Image Resized
Image Resized
<a href=&#39;http://www.morenews.ru/arhive/2003-05-04/winget.gif&#39; (http://www.morenews.ru/arhive/2003-05-04/winget.gif) target=&#39;image&#39;>Image Resized
http://www.morenews.ru/arhive/2003-05-04/winget.gif' width='200' height='120' border='0' alt='click for full size view'></a> (http://www.morenews.ru/arhive/2003-05-04/winget.gif' target='image'>[img)</a>

**

<a href='http://www.winget.cc/]WEBSITE DOWN ?

DOWNLOAD (http://nctuccca.nctu.edu.tw/ftp/Vendors/Softking/soft/en/w/)winget16.exe Just scroll down and you will see it.

**edit - DDL removed

[hungrylilboy]

Originally posted by sharedholder@21 March 2004 - 07:07
No spyware : NetTransport & Download Plus&#33;
are u saying that DAP is good or bad sharedholder as u sort of said both now?

[sharedholder]

DAP ( download accelerator plus contains spyware ) .

[hungrylilboy]

Originally posted by sharedholder@21 April 2004 - 12:04
DAP ( download accelerator plus contains spyware ) .
but u can clean it using ad aware...

[sharedholder]

Get Net Transport , is better and is clean. :)

[hungrylilboy]

i cant get the nettransport to download

edit i mean i cant download the exe from the site

[hungrylilboy]

Originally posted by sharedholder@18 March 2004 - 07:00

GetRight (5.02, spyware-clean, free trial)
GetRight has been one the first download managers around; in the early days spyware infected, but clean today. GetRight is not free, and doesn&#39;t have too many features compared to some other download managers in this test, but it&#39;s reliable and its IE integration works better than that of many others. If you already use it and don&#39;t miss any features, there are not many reasons to switch.


Update

NEW Version 5.1
(Released March 22, 2004)
for Windows
95-98-ME-NT-2000-XP


GetRight is a Download Manager program to help you download files from the Internet.

Changes since 5.02:
The Big Improvement:
Secure Server transfers....HTTPS&#33; This is a registered-only feature, and the biggest change in 5.1.

Medium:
Added so the download windows are resizeable. Makes the report much easier to see everything at once.
Added often requested Save/Open prompt so you can now "Open" files easily.
Added a new IE click monitoring method, in addition to the current way. Works fine with a few browsers based on IE that didn&#39;t work with other methods (AOL 9.0, Avant, etc.) Redid the Monitor config pages to have better descriptions and split into 2 pages to fit better.
Fixed something that could cause "stuck at 99%" problems for some FTP servers.
Added "File Types" to the folders on the download status...so you can more easily have things like .MP3 automatically filed.
Change some options for the Server Synchronizer to give more control: sizes separate from dates, overwrite/resume separate, option to put everything into the same folder, etc.
Improved the "Log Into Website" functions to better handle websites with several forms on one page (like a login and a search form). Should now pick out the one real Login form.
Fix/change some things that seemed to cause rare crashes for a few people.
And other things I forgot to list here...

Minor changes:
Fixed so if you select a category on some screens (like the Advanced Download in the browser) it fills in the folder for that catetory in the Save To area.
Added a few more columns on the Download Status. "Save To" folder where the file is being saved, and "Last-Modified" the date/time the file was last updated on the server.
Fixed bug with really long file path+names in the "Recent Finished Files" menu not running right.
Added so in the Click Monitoring, you can set the "Ignore" key combination to be no keys pressed--that way GetRight will be set to ignore everything in the browser unless the keys are pressed for "Catch" to specifically tell it you want to download a file.
Fixed so the Verify URLs functions should get User/Pass from the Login (FTP & Basic) page right.
Added some Right click menus on the Mirror Manager window.
Added "Open when done" checkbox to the Save As window.
Added option for Log Files to log when something is Deleted.
Better handling if the old GetRight folder is deleted after an upgrade (so the places it&#39;s set to store the .LST files isn&#39;t there).
Added "Make Unique" button to the "Overwrite/Resume" window when first saving a file. It will add -### to the filename to create a new unused name.
Improvements to QuickSync/ServerSync.
Added "Send URL as Referer" on Protocols config page.

And as always, there are lots of other little improvements and fixes I&#39;ve forgotten to list here...

More Minor changes:
Made a couple minor fixes to 5.1. Fixed the installer to include the sound files again; and fixed so the new "Run when done" checkbox on the Save As window is unchecked by default the first time.

GetRight is now clean. Click here (http://www.getright.com/privacy.html) for their privacy statement. Click here (http://www.getright.com/aureate.html) for more

GetRight do NOT use a "phone home" system. Click here (http://www.getright.com/phonehome.html) for more.

[- Nightmare -]

Originally posted by sharedholder@21 April 2004 - 07:42
Get Net Transport , is better and is clean. :)
Hey SH. Do you use the speed limit function in NetTransport? If so what did you set it at?

The default is 2048 KB/sec. Is that a good speed?

[sharedholder]

DLExpert ( another clone of FlashGet )

Freeware

DLExpert is a multi-thread resuming downloading software. It makes full use of resources of the client and the server to download files from the Internet at the most speedy rate. DLExpert can divide the file into any parts, at most more than 100 parts (NOT ONLY 5 OR 6 PARTS). Each of them will be downloaded by one thread, so different parts can be downloaded simultaneously, resulting in speedy downloading. DLExpert supports HTTP and FTP, also HTTP and FTP proxy. Its function of auto-dial, auto-hangup, schedule downloading and auto-shutdown make it convenient.

Image Resized
http://www.buzzys.net/images/dlexpert3.gif' width='200' height='120' border='0' alt='click for full size view'></a>

<a href='http://www.buzzys.net/dlexpert.html]http://www.buzzys.net/dlexpert.html (http://www.buzzys.net/images/dlexpert3.gif' target='image'>[img)

[sharedholder]

Star Downloader Free 1.43

Release Date: May 4th, 2004

Freeware

Download Star Downloader Free 1.43 (ftp://wcarchive.cdrom.com/pub/simtelnet/win95/inetftp/sdfree.exe)

Star Downloader is a download manager that accelerates your downloads by splitting the files into several parts and downloading them simultaneously. Download speeds are increased further by choosing the fastest mirror sites. You may automatically resume broken downloads if your connection is lost or if your computer accidentally shuts down. With the scheduler, you can download files at certain times of the day. It may also automatically connect to your ISP and hang-up upon completion of downloads.

To help you organize and manage your downloads there is an advanced category system and an integrated unzipping utility can automatically unzip and install downloaded files. Star Downloader also integrates with your antivirus program to automatically scan files upon completion of the download. It supports FTP and HTTP. Proxy is also supported. The clean and simple interface and the multilingual support for over 50 languages makes it easy for everyone to use.

Image Resized
[img]http://fileforum.betanews.com/screenshots/1014444140.gif' width='200' height='120' border='0' alt='click for full size view'> ('http://fileforum.betanews.com/screenshots/1014444140.gif')

[sharedholder]

Net Transport 1.87 Released

Changes:

Added HTTP/HTTPS for "Site Explorer", but only can explore in the host and exclude external links.
Modified "NTAddList.html" script for IE, now using IE COM to generate the links (IE 4+), whose effect is great.
Added support for EPLF for FTP.
Added support for command line.
Added download percent for "drop zone" window.
Added "Find" dialog to search a specified job; Update help files.
Fixed wrong Host header field of a https request.
Added "Change Temporary Path" feature when feeling the disk space is too small.
Added "Keep Alive" for job solely, and "LIST" is supported for "Site Explorer", recommend use.
Added standard commands for RTSP to be compatible with more servers.
Added "Job Scheme" feature to allow user to save and switch desired settings.
Fixed a bug that program could not end HTTP chuck streaming.
Added an error handler, please email popped information to me.

http://www.xi-soft.com/default.htm

[{I}{K}{E}]

I like Star Downloader PRO ;)

[sharedholder]

Tenebril Slingshot

FREEWARE

Slingshot is an intelligent download manager. It optimizes your downloads for speed, manages the software installed on your computer to keep you up-to-date; it hides all the complexity of finding, downloading and installing software.

http://www.tenebril.com/products/slingshot/tour1.jpg

http://www.tenebril.com/products/slingshot/

[zapjb]

I knew that name was familar. Tenebril the makers of Ghost Surf. What a fn nightmare that prog is. SH, I&#39;ll stick with with NetTransport. Gotta be able to d/l from Chinese sites. :P