Subscribe to our Best Free Download Manager
Last Update: Sun, 01/10/2010 - 01:29 — Jojoyee
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Introduction
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There comes a time when you are downloading a large file and the download stops part of the way through. If you are using the Windows download applet there is nothing you can do about it; you will just have to start again. A good download manager will allow you to resume the download, picking up where it left off.
Good download managers also allow you to start several concurrent download sessions from available resources for the one file. This works by splitting the file into parts with each part downloaded at the same time from the various resources. At the end the file is then re-assembled.
This can result in dramatic improvements in download speed given a transmission speed limited by internet service providers.
Below are a few free download managers short listed for review based on the basic requirements including:
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Discussion
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 Gigaget download manager is in general the fastest by far for downloading files. It utilizes cutting-edge Net Grid technology to tap the unused resources of networked PCs and servers to greatly improve your download speed. It has useful features you would need, safe and easy to use.Among the features, it allows you to easily pause, resume or delete a download, import or export list of downloads, and it has a powerful task manager with data transfer encryption, auto data integrity validation and correction, classification of downloaded files, etc.
Gigaget monitors clipboard by default. You can add a download easily by pasting a download link copied to the clipboard. It also monitors Internet Explorer for auto download. If you are using Firefox, FlashGot is a useful addon to link the browser to Gigaget or other download managers for auto download. Gigaget has an optional flash and stream recognition as well.
On the downside, this program occasionally prompts an 'about:blank' error message after a browser's home page is set to blank. If you click ok, the program clears the message and nevertheless proceeds to work well. Gigaget seems to have stalled in development from the last version, while its original Chinese version Xunlei (or Thunder) is actively developed and becomes one of the most popular download managers among Chinese users.
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 Alternatively, Free Download Manager is a good choice for its stability and support for various browsers such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Chrome and Safari.It offers simultaneous multi-part downloads, easy restarting and recovery, a powerful scheduler and downloading from mirrors.
It also features downloads from RapidShare, prioritized and partial torrent downloads, adjusting traffic usage, flash video download and an upload manager. Management of downloaded files is supported.
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 Another popular download manager is Orbit Downloader, which is devoted to the new generation web to make downloading any social media easy and fast.Moreover, Orbit Downloader features Grab Pro to facilitate video download from sites using anti-leeching technology like YouTube, Pandora, etc.
It integrates with Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Opera and Maxthon, supports most streaming media protocols and file-sharing service websites, and includes other features such as general and tagged download management.
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 Apart from downloading various types of files, GetGo Download Manager helps download your favorite videos from YouTube and other websites with embedded FLV flash videos with one-click.It integrates with IE and Firefox browsers. With the program, you can easily set up a batch download using an URL pattern template and rename downloaded files automatically using a filename pattern template. Other features such as download scheduler, resume broken downloads, managing downloaded files, etc., are included.
The program has optional Standard and Search toolbars in the user interface. Upon installation, it adds a GetGo Toolbar into your browser, but that can be disabled.
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It increases the download speed by applying multi-server hyper-thread technology and supports HTTP, FTP, BT, eMule and other various protocols. FlashGet provides download monitoring for Internet Explorer and also integrates well with Firefox's FlashGot extension. It supports unlimited categories for managing downloaded files. Upon first running of the program after installation, it shows a 'recommended message' at the right panel, but that can be easily disabled. |
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Download Manager for multi-platform
The program accelerates the download by multi-tasking with multi-threading on multi servers and supports http/ftp protocols which meet the requirements of most users. It provides management of downloaded files in a good GUI interface, monitors the clipboard well but does not integrate with browsers. Other useful features include multi-language support, optional auto MD5 check and reconfiguring the thread number without stopping the current task. |
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Other Download Managers
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Several other free download managers were brought up in comments here or noted from other sources. As they are not rated in this review, I am listing some of them here with brief descriptions and links to their sites for ease of reference.
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Have Your Say
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| You are invited to share and discuss your views and vote for your preferred download manager in our freeware forum. To post in the forum you need to register first but that's quick and immediate. Alternatively, anyone can leave a comment at the bottom of this page.
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1.0.0.23 
Unrestricted freeware 
Windows 95-Vista
Portable version available
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Editor
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This article is maintained by volunteer editor Jojoyee. Registered site users are allowed to edit and improve this article wiki-style. |
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Tags
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download manager, free download manager, download, downloader, freeware, free download |
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Please rate this article
My browser firefox 3.6 blocked the flashget site, it stated that it is a malicious site. Please look into this.
I have Firefox 3.6, and the Flashget site works fine.
In firefox 3.6 go to preference, the click the security tab, then make sure that "block reported attack sites" is checked. Then try going to the site.
It was checked :).
But, earlier I had tried the homepage of Flashget. That was working fine, and did not get any alert. Now I tried the download page, and I am getting the alert for the download page :O. So, yes, you are right. That's strange though, why only the download page, the alert should be there for the whole site.
The download page might have something in it I think. Better to try other alternatives for download managers.
I get greens for both pages with my browser integrated WOT. There are some malware reports in the main WOT page ratings but copying in both URL's still gives green for both. Oddly enough, SRWare Iron flags a red warning for both pages.
I suggest that people assess this for themselves before deciding which one to pick. There are after all plenty of options.
I am not getting any alerts for both pages today. I think their site must have been hacked, and a malicious code may have been put there... and maybe they have sorted it out now.
The entire site of Flashget.com has been detected to be an attack site by both Google and Firefox (supported by Stop BadWare). If you own a network monitoring software, you'll also notice that Flashget still doing an upload even though you're not seeding a torrent or downloading anything. It never happened before before last week so I hope their team gonna fix this soon. In the meantime, I would recommend you to use Gigaget instead.
Hi, does anyone succeed in making Gigaset works with a standard user account on Windows XP ?
No way for me, only accounts with administrator privileges seems to bee able to run this app. Looks like a major con, for me.
I just noticed that according to this article, gigaget is the fastest. I was wondering what is the second and third fastest download manager in this list?
Version 3.0.0.0 of Orbit has been released. Now it supports tag, to organize downloads. The new version has a change that I found a little irritating. Now, if you pause a download, it goes into inactive section, and when you start that download again, it disappears and goes to active section. To see the progress, you have to click and see that section. Earlier was better, when they were available in one section itself.
How about Flashget 3? it seems faster
Its interface tries to display a webpage but cannot display. Any idea?
I have downloaded Gigaget and the downloads are extremely slow. I recommend intalling HEhehunter's English Version of Xun Lei. It is much faster!
Ben
Can u give me the direct website of that download manager thanks.
Gigaget doesn't seem to work with newer versions of Firefox. Does anyone else have this problem?
For integration with Firefox, you can try the extension FlashGot, which allows you to link it to an external download manager such as Gigaget.
Pankaj90801
Hi Guys! ORBIT IS BEST AND OTHER ALL NOT BEST. HAA HAA HAA.
Go for ORBIT Today Only.
I'm looking for a download manager that supports unicode characters.
Does anyone know of any download managers that have unicode support?
Thanks in advance.
Hmph, any idea on why Gigaget contains WebThunder? My antivirus freaked when it saw me trying to install Gigaget. I also researched this "WebThunder" and it's classified as an exploit all over the web. McAfee, Symantec, Microsoft, etc...
This makes me question this site for the first time. Like they say, when something seems too good to be true....
I've tried a few in the last years but definitively Free Download Manager and Orbit Downloader are in my opinion the best since they are simple to install, downloads are immediate with no interruptions, fast and accurate. The Options are easy to configure.
have u tried Internet Download Manager? I think its one of the best out there...
Not included in this review as it's non freeware.
I think FDM is the best because it supports download from Rapidshare, while other download manager I've tried E.G: DAP. DAP Free is good though but it doesn't support download from Rappidshare. Also FDM can handle large files, while others don't E.G. Gigaget, and GetGo Download Manager
direct download n cfossspeed good
Both are not freeware if I'm not mistaken.
I recommend you to have both Orbit Downloader and Free Download Manager. I use Orbit. It's very powerful. Speed acceleration is good enough. Also Orbit is updated very fast when you compare it to other downloaders.
Orbit is excellent. I have tried Star, Fresh, DAP, and a couple of others, and Orbit blows them all away IMNSHO.
The only thing it is missing is the little pop-up progress bar window that all the others have. But it is otherwise so good that I am willing to overlook that small omission.
RURAL MISSOURI...dial up...very very very s..l..o..w Which would be the best download manager for us???? Please & Thank You!
A download manager will not necessarily speed up a download for dial-up. In fact, most of the time they are slower (10% - 20%) than a normal browser download, although Gigaget seems to be the fastest of the group. A download manager primarily serves the purpose of restarting a download, should the connection be lost for any reason, from where it previously stopped, which is generally a good thing for dial-up users when dealing with large files.
As far as dial-up speeds, the maximum can only be realized if you are within 20,000 feet of a phone company's central office, or other dedicated switchgear box, and you have a clean connection between both points. New copper wiring from your house box to your phone jack, especially if the house more than 20 years old, is generally easy and worth the time and effort. Trying a modem with a different chipset could (slightly) improve performance.
Maximum connection speed for a 56k modem is 52Kbps (on a good day), maximum download speeds between 5.5Kbps to 6Kbps (measured with files larger than 10MB), the maximum that can be downloaded averages 20MB per hour. That is the best one can hope for with 56k dial-up. But do look at the upside, while you sleep, you can download a 160MB file - not too shabby.
Orbit is recently updated as of July 2009.
It seems to have better habits overall than some of the other download managers, because it can be set to autostart new jobs without popping up the program window and the add job dialog on top of everything else in the centre of the screen (which seems to be the only real flaw with FDM), and Orbit can also be set to automatically exit itself when downloads are finished. Orbit is much less intrusive and requires fewer keystrokes to achieve the desired result.
I tested on several sites and there didn't appear to be much speed difference between FDM, Orbit, Flashget, or DLExpert. I didn't try Gigaget because it looks like an advertisement. The fastest downloader of all actually appears to be the one built into Firefox, but unfortunately it is more likely to cut a download short.
Orbit, especially if combined with Firefox extension Flashgot, seems to be the best option.
I wrote that and I've noticed something since...Orbit does not seem to download gmail attachments, but Free Download Manager downloads gmail attachments without difficulty.
et brocklesby
I have been using FDM for some considerable time, However, since installing a new hard drive the program will not work. i downloaded GIGAGET, however the same problem. The programs will download but they stop as soon as I click download, or it tells me I have the incorrect URL'S.
Is this a firewall problem or something else, I checked the firewall, nothing there, did some other tweeks but nothing. Help would be appreciated.
I have no problem downloading on google chrome, that is fast and it places the files in my download file for later use.
Eric
We would need some more details, like what OS you are using, which browser to download, with any add-ons to help download... what firewall you are having.
If you can please post this in the freeware forum : http://www.techsupportalert.com/freeware-forum, we would be able to help you better :)
Anupam Shriwatri
Please try "RDesc" here.... http://rdesc.com/descargas/
Worked amazing for me...now in spanish/ english.
I guess orbit is good than gigaget. The gigaget "about:blank" is really annoying, when you have to download very occassionally. Also, for me (with a DSL connectivity) orbit seems to be equally fast or sometimes better than gigaget.
Download from majority of file-sharing services (rapidshare, megaupload e.t.c.)
www.dimonius.ru
Universal Share Downloader
orbit downloader is now version 2.8.12. It supports google chrome
I tried both: Gigaget and Free Download Manager:
Both are good and Yes, Gigaget seems to be bit fast, but I still love FDM, because of its numbers of features, including the support for plugins, as well as good speed and speed control (Gigaget also have in more customizable way)
FDM Additional Features:
Site Manager,
Site Explorer
HTML Spider
Scheduler
Torrents/Bitorrents
Flash Video Downloader (Youtube etc)
I didn't find Gigaget as rich as FM.
I downloaded Gigaget but was disappointed.
I've been using Leechget for a number of years which on my computer, [hp pavillion and dialup] is twice as fast and has most if not all of the pick up functionality of Gigaget.
You should mention Jdownloader for rapidshare and stuff.
http://jdownloader.org/
JDownloader is open source, platform independent and written completely in Java. It simplifies downloading files from One-Click-Hosters like Rapidshare.com or Megaupload.com - not only for users with a premium account but also for users who don't pay. It offers downloading in multiple paralell streams, captcha recognition, automatical file extraction and much more. Of course, JDownloader is absolutely free of charge. Additionally, many "link encryption" sites are supported - so you just paste the "encrypted" links and JD does the rest. JDownloader can import CCF, RSDF and the new DLC files.
Mike
Tried jdownloader, but uninstalled it right away because it uses about 40 mb or ram, apparently because it's a java based application, but other than that it's a very good download manager
hmmm
for me, flash get is faster than gigaget...
Worked amazing for me...
I speaking my mind at Gravity Blue www.gravityblue.com
Gigaget is outdate and buggy.
I don't think the No.1 factor for most people whilst choosing a download manager is speed. There are other areas which are probably more important, such as ease of use of course, but also how well it can download (on mass) what you want, to where you want reliably, and with as little user intervention as possible.
Perhaps the biggest factor is not how fast it can download, but what it can download - I'd say Orbit with it's Grab Pro and Grab ++ anti leeching technology would make it the best choice for the average user, as figures from download.com suggest.
Thanks for the good comments. Features such as user friendly and what they can download are some important points being considered for download managers. I like Orbit too with all these features. Orbit would certainly be a top pick if it is also the best in terms of speed, which nevertheless is still an important point to consider and most download managers are designed to gain speed by either splitting a file to download and/or downloading from various possible resources.
I suppose this depends on where you live. In the US where broadband is relatively cheap and fast having a download manager that maximises your download speeds is probably more important than in many other countries. Australia (where I live) has limited speeds and pricey caps, so its hard for me to appreciate Gigaget's strengths!
What about Download accelerater plus it is really fast.
I recently downloaded and installed GIGANET. After integrating it into Firefox v3.0.10 it says in Firefox add on management that Giganet is not compatible.
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