Steve King said:
I've ben using the GetRight download manger for a couple of
years now. It's not very stable, and has its eccentricities.
Can anybody recommend a down load manager beside GetRight?
Steve . . .
A lot of the final decision may depend on how an end-user intends to
utilize a 'download manager.'
If usage involves queuing up large numbers of projects and saving
them to various destinations and directories on your many large
harddrives, then the latest version of GetRight is prolly the bestest
(or some other $ware product like Download Accelerator Plus, etc.).
There are quite a few freeware offerings with varying degrees of
configurability (and spy/ad/malware infestation):
http://www.webattack.com/freeware/downloader/fwdown.shtml
If you simply surf to a site and download your targets and then
determine the destination individually, you could try MetaProducts'
Download Express latest freeware release, v1.5.224 (*without* the
$ware upgrade - which has a 30-day free trial, which resumes again
after a complete uninstall/reinstall):
http://www.metaproducts.com/mp/mpProducts_Detail.asp?id=18
It's relatively small and operates like a brower plug-in.
The one caveat to watch for is determining the Start Menu group on
installation. (They are not too clear in their documentation on this
facet - but the installation does offer the options.) This is
because if DL-Express fails to complete a download, it will save what
it retreived so you can go back and resume later - and this will be
accessed via an entry it creates in it's program group in the Start
Menu.
Example: I keep all my 'file utilities' in a Start Menu category
called -- hmmm -- uhmmmm -- let's see now -- "File Utilities" --
yeah, that's it.
Therefore when I install the DL-Express plug-in, and it gives me the
options in the dialog, I replace the default Start Menu dialog with
"File Utilities\Download Express" without the quotes. [That's right;
that's exactly how this one works.] For instance, if I installed
simply to the defaults, and dragged the DL-Express Start Menu group
to the File Utilties group, the next time I have an incomplete
download project, DL-X will open a new category in the Start Menu >
Programs section with the shortcut to later retreive the desired
project... Likewise, if I inserted "Programs\File Utilities\Download
Express" it would create a cascading group under Programs called
"Programs > File Utilties > Download Express" duplicating what is
already there.
Oh well, you get the point - it's easy enough to uninstall and
reinstall 'on the fly' until you get it tweaked like you want it
because it's only a browser plug-in, so you don't have to restart
Windows - only your browser.
Try a few until you find a couple that are good for exactly how you
want to work it out - and then keep only the ones that are very
configurable and fit your circumstances. Good luck!
