Download Manager / Accelerator Recommendations

[RaistlinMajere]

Gigaget
stupid 10-char min

[WanderingKnight]

I'm with SeijiSensei, never saw the use of download managers in the first place. Besides, it's one of those ways to easily get into your PC (how many people wouldn't like to speed up their downloads, even when most of times it's impossible ), so it always smelled like those fake spyware removing tools.

I'm happy with IE

Yeah, and with your spy and adware too, I guess.

(Sorry, just needed to say that. No hard feelings )

[Tiberium Wolf]

http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/

Freeware too.

[KNETTER2000]

Originally Posted by WanderingKnight

Yeah, and with your spy and adware too, I guess.

(Sorry, just needed to say that. No hard feelings )

That's just nonsense.
You'd have a hard time finding spy- or adware on my pc.
I scan regularly and in the last 6 months I haven't had anything like that on my pc.

[Ledgem]

Yeah, but what are you scanning with? Not to make it sound like an attack, but it makes a difference. And if you're using IE, you're at high risk.

[monster]

If you have Microsoft .NET Framework or don't mind getting one, try Download Accelerator Manager (DAM) Free Edition by Tensons.

[KNETTER2000]

Originally Posted by Ledgem

Yeah, but what are you scanning with? Not to make it sound like an attack, but it makes a difference. And if you're using IE, you're at high risk.

Trust me when I say I am fully made aware of the risks and am always pointed to them every chance a debate comes up on a forum on wich browser is used and I say the dreaded IE word

"Everything out there is better than IE and you're teh st00p1d for using it!!" is mainly where all these conversation end.

Strangly it always seems to be the people using other than IE browsers that see the need to start such a discussion
I couldn't care less, I'm content with what I use, and have no need to evangelize my choice. Now if only those in the opposite camps could have the same view on it

It's thesame in the windows/linux war. in Linuxland you're the worlds biggest fool if you use anything windows related, cause linux is god's gift to mankind while MS windows is a fiendish work from the devil himself. I'm ofcourse generalizing here.

the same happens in Mac/PC wars too.

It never ends

I have Spybot Search and Destroy with teatimer resident, I use adaware and I use Hitmanpro once a month.. That's about it for spyware and the lot. For viruses etc I use Avast pro.

But this is actually all completely offtopic, we're hijacking the thread like this

Sorry Migufuchi Fusutsu

[toru310]

Nah it's ok I use avast! too hehe...hurray for freewares! And the reason I need to use IE is because megaupload always say that limited slots are full and need to download the tool bar for IE only so I'm finding a download accelerator for IE... Please don't kill me for saying that!!!


Edit: please note that I'm only finding download accelerator that does not hug your system?? does it exist? if not I'll settle with those recommendations. Thanks!

[Ledgem]

Just for your reference, MegaUpload will probably reject any download accelerators that you use if they're providing their own. I dug a little and found why. Their toolbar is actually the Alexa Toolbar. I'd heard that name before: Alexa is a spyware company. So, they'd be having you install spyware to your computer.

The saying is that there's no such thing as a free lunch. Free web hosting? Not likely. The download slots error is a message that everyone gets, and they attempt to scam you into installing their trash. If you can get their service to work without installing their "accelerator" then good on you. Otherwise, I think you're wasting your time.

Another forum's post addressing a topic questioning the toolbar has a post where someone mentions the service mytempdir.com as an alternative service. You may want to consider using that.

My personal opinion is that download accelerators are a thing of the past. Their only use now would be to hammer sites and boost download rates that way - a method that would be destructive if many people bought into it.

As for IE, I advocate using what software and hardware solution fits you best. I find IE to be highly counterproductive, and moreover, a huge security risk. Just make sure you know what you're doing and be more vigilant than ever. Be aware that there are alternate browsers you could use, too. And get used to the masking features on them - sites that are "sorry, you're not using a compliant browser, we require IE" typically work on any browser, anyway. So mask as IE, use the site, and then shoot the webmaster an email telling him that you've tested with a different browser and it worked. I've made two sites remove Opera from the "it doesn't work" list this way, and I'm about to attempt a third. Garbage IE...

[Tiberium Wolf]

Originally Posted by Ledgem

Just for your reference, MegaUpload will probably reject any download accelerators that you use if they're providing their own. I dug a little and found why. Their toolbar is actually the Alexa Toolbar. I'd heard that name before: Alexa is a spyware company. So, they'd be having you install spyware to your computer.

What spyware are they going to install? (note: I got ZoneAlarm suite on and it didn't complain)

[toru310]

What?? megaupload has spyware? well my anti virus didn't tick when I downloaded the tool bar...oh yeah I'm using IE 7..so I think it's more protective?? Ermmm went to the site and I was shocked...well I'm not using IE in general I'm using mozilla just using IE for megaupload...is it still dangerous...

[WanderingKnight]

What spyware are they going to install? (note: I got ZoneAlarm suite on and it didn't complain)

In the EULA it says that the toolbar will collect information about your PC (such as incoming IP addresses and visited sites) and send them to MegaUpload. It's not something inherently dangerous, but it serves for advertising (and possible adware) proposes. It does qualify as spyware, but the risk ipso facto is not high. However, there might be some side consequences the EULA is not telling us about... Anyways, I wouldn't feel comfortable if there's a small piece of bytes that's violating my privacy at my expense, however harmless that violation might feel.

[Tiberium Wolf]

If I have that plugin disabled in firefox then it won't be sending anything out?

[Ledgem]

Originally Posted by Migufuchi Fusutsu

oh yeah I'm using IE 7..so I think it's more protective??

No, you have to be more protective!

The spyware it's associated with is the Alexa Toolbar. Google and read up on it. Personally, I don't trust having any spyware on my system. Horror story for you non-believers:

Back in the days of WinME, I used a P2P service whose name I can't recall (Galaxy or something like that) which happened to bundle a small spyware called WebHancer for one release version. After a few months, my internet wasn't working - I was getting a winsock.dll error (corruption). System restore would fix it temporarily. After researching WebHancer, I came to the conclusion that the spyware was updating itself, but the update process would kill that .dll (or something related). If I knew then what I knew now, maybe I could have saved my system, but the only option to me then was a reformat. Amusing side-note: the spyware wasn't bundled with the P2P app installer for long, but unfortunately I was one of those who updated at the wrong time.

Listen, this is why people don't like spyware. It's not just an invasion of privacy. It's a program doing something you don't know about. It's a security risk, it's a stability hazard. It's someone else controlling something remotely that's on your computer, and the only thing making it a step above viruses is that this garbage is considered legal.

[Navel]

Another freeware one (and no spyware): Orbit

They don't really "accelerate" anything though, they're useful for scheduling and pausing/resuming downloads as well as the ability to dowload some streamed files, that's all. It's even advisable not to use their multipart download features as some servers will ban you for that. Just set it to 1.

[toru310]

I see...So many things to try.. Gigashare and Flashget is getting my attention though..

[lalala123]

Does anybody know if there is a program that will allow me to download images of a image board without clicking on every single image and save it to the hard drive?

[Generic Asian Guy]

For Firefox, there's the "DownThemAll" addon: http://www.downthemall.net/

I think this needs to be moved to the Tech forum =]

[Claies]

I use Flashget. It's taking a much lesser role in my downloads since a few months ago, and now it's more of an auxiliary tool for:

a) Securing some speed in weak overseas connections
b) Batch downloads (as in you put in wildcard *'s and it cycles for you - perfect for online scans)
c) Performing gigantic (300+MB) downloads so they keep running even if my browser dies

It's really not that useful nowadays. Also, if you allow me some criticism - stop using IE.

[arcadeplayer987]

I use Download Accelerator Pro, it's the best I think