Best free download managers

[Ashwin]

There are many free download managers, Here is a list of my favs

1. Orbit downloader
2. JDownloader (Java based, but supports rapidshare)
3. Fresh download

Flash Got is an add-on for firefox that can turn into an inbuit downloader, very fast too.
Another downloader for Firefox is Firedownload,although it is faulty sometimes.

Note: Firedownloader have some problems with Hotfile.com's downloads.
I have tested it many times, eg:i downloaded some fonts, it was a 10 mb file, but the download continued beyond 20mb, after which i cancelled the download.

More of my fav add-ons for Firefox, Flock at

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[Avinash]

Hearing Gigaget for the first time and hence never used it too. As you said, Its among your best picks that means I would need to test it to see how good it is.

Orbit downloader obviously is one of the good ones, but a bit buggy sometimes.

[Ashwin]

Hearing Gigaget for the first time and hence never used it too. As you said, Its among your best picks that means I would need to test it to see how good it is.

Orbit downloader obviously is one of the good ones, but a bit buggy sometimes.

I agree. Orbit is a bit buggy, beta versions never work, they just crash.
JDownloader can be slow at times,.
JD uses java. But it is still very popular.

[Avinash]

Thanx for the info Ashwin. I would like to write a post with same topic, if you don't mind.

[Ashwin]

Thanx for the info Ashwin. I would like to write a post with same topic, if you don't mind.

By all means, if you want i can contribute and so can other members

[Ashwin]

Malwarebytes quick scan found my Gigaget's default folder contained a couple of infections.
I wanted to see if i can contact Gigaget support for an explanation, to my horror the Gigaget website redirected to a chinese website.

If im not mistaken they have either shut down Giganology or it has been hacked.

Either way, do not use Gigaget. If you have it on your PC, use Revo uninstaller to remove it and to delete two registry items.

BTW Free Download Manager's website has security warnings on McAfee Site Advisor and PC Tools Browser Defender

http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/

PS: I have also reported this to TechsupportAlert.
And they acknowledge that Gigaget redirects to some Chinese website and WOT shows FDM's website says it is safe.

http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-download-manager.htm

[Ashwin]

I scanned with Malwarebytes after the uninstallation of Gigaget, and no infections.

Well i think it must be an infected BHO (Browser Helper Object). Anyway switching back to Orbit for now.

[corker]

If I recall, the first downloader I had ever used a few years ago was Fresh Download. I have forgotten what it feels like. Besides, I was using 56K dial up modem at that time so I can't really say whether it was good or bad.

I think the closest to IDM from freeware category is Orbit Downloader. I was a huge fan of Orbit. But the new version of Orbit Downloader 4 was built with software updater, a feature I found "not so useful" because often inaccurate. Moreover, Mamutu has reported several suspicious activities from orbit and orbitnet. Not to mention its download source is placed on Brothersoft, which has reputation as "not so clean".

FireDownload?
Just like ashwin wrote, it is buggy. The first time I used FireDownload was when it was still in version 2.0. Couldn't choose where to save your download to, couldn't pause downloading or you would get your Firefox crashes, and bad integrations to filehostar sites were FireDownload's common drawbacks. Its latest build after slow development phase is FireDownload 2.0.1 in which now users are provided with the option to define download location manually. But the rest of problems still.....
However in the end, I select FireDownload as my main download manager because it downloads faster than IDM and Orbit. It can reach the number of 100-110 KB whilst IDM and Orbit only 90-100KB.

There is one more, Free Download Manager. But, I think it is kinda bloated with less useful features like FTP uploader and unhandy method to download flash video. Luckily, there is the Lite version in which user can have the essential feature only.

By the away, does anyone use GetRight?
Basically, it is a paidware. However, you can use it as long as you want if you do not mind to be irritated by its subscription reminder. So, the proper term for GetRight is "nagware", the same that goes to WinRAR. Its speed? According to my experience, it is stably fast. It has torrent downloader, a feature that is not supported by IDM, but no online flash video downloader.

[kavin]

I use IDM. Much better than all the above ones.
But since FREE is a concern here, i agree with you.

[Avinash]

I use IDM. Much better than all the above ones.
But since FREE is a concern here, i agree with you.

Obviously IDM is much better but it costs ~$30. For most of us its too much for a download manager until you download loads of content daily from the web.