Free Download Manager

Download Managers are a must have to tweak your throughput when downloading large files. Not only do they make the transfer go quickly, they usually add features not found in the basic download functions of your browser. Features such as bandwidth throttling and so forth.

The download is just over 1 MB, and installed clean.

Some basic functions:

• Schedule downloads to start at a specific time.
• Resuming broken downloads.
• Create numerous simultaneous connections by splitting files into sections, and as a result, increasing your download rate. The web site claims up to a 600% increase, but I'll bite my tongue on that one. ;)
• The HTML Spider, which enables you to download entire web sites with the click of a button.
• The Site Explorer, does just as the name implies. It allows you to see folder contents on a remote server.
• The ability to download from password protected servers. Many of the freebie download managers don't even have an option for this, and for this reason, fail in my eyes.
• A smart bandwidth throttle that senses browser use and adjusts speed accordingly.
• Organize downloads by category

During my testing, FDM performed flawlessly using both the Avant and MSIE browsers. As hard as I tried to make it fail, it didn't. I've download files from as small as 1 KB to over 3 GB without a hitch.

If you enjoy cute little sounds to signify when a download succeeds or fails, then FDM is not for you. It's quiet thankfully.

As far as I can see, there is no nasty spyware/adware embedded, and appears to be clean, unlike DAP and others.

On the downside:

If there's one thing that I don't like about FDM, it's the fact that options are split up into different sections, forcing me to click around instead of getting it all done in one instance. For example, the options are split up into Download Options, Default Download Settings, HTML Spider Default Settings, and so forth. Minor, but an annoyance to say the least.

Options include integration with Mozilla FireFox. As hard as I tried, I couldn't get it to work.

Overall

I'm usually skeptical trying anything with the word "Free" in it's title, but I'm glad I did. Sporting more features than some of the retail/shareware counterparts, FDM is truly a worthwhile download. Besides my minor gripes, if you're looking for a good, free download manager with enough features to keep you happy, I suggest giving Free Download Manager (FDM) a try.

FDM Home Page

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