Matth

My first suggestion was going to be "Light Downloader", after seeing it in a magazines "Best new freeware" listing.
This website is currently unavailable. - but unavailable, I guess they busted their bandwidth after the recommendation.
No problem Download Light Downloader 1.1.1 Free - Absolutely free and safe download manager.

Flashget is now freeware, but blighted by suspicions (used to have Aureate spyware)
Best Download Manager - FlashGet
There are also potential insecurities in the ini file TrojanGet infects users around the world - Securelist

Was going to suggest Orbit, but it seems that a recently added software updater "feature" is an unwelcome annoyance.

Free Download Manager - absolutely free download accelerator and manager Free Download Manager, though it also has been tainted by Software Informer (not sure if that still applies) - A version 3.5RC is available on their forum.
Are they complying with GPL, while trying to bask in open source goodness?

Fresh Downloader, quite a lot of negative comment, as well as the known fact that you get a rather spammy newsletter.

Just looked at the one I'm using now, and on checking the requirements link, it DOES say it works on Win7
MetaProducts Download Express
Though it does not mention that in the main text.
Better the devil I know, there are plenty with better integration, more grabbing features, but at least this is a no messing, "taster" version - Their top version is "Mass downloader", and then they made a middle version by adding some extra non-free features.

Well reading around made my mind up on that, it's not the best, not by a long way, but trustworthy is worth more than "fantastic".

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Mary had a little lamb,
Her father shot it dead
Now Mary takes her lamb to school,
Between two crusts of bread

blibbax

To be honest, I really don't see the need for this. If you're downloading anything that's going to take so long that you want more than the firefox download window, you're probably either using Steam or utorrent anyway...

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Takaharu

DAP
I used it for downloading a few MMORPGS and it sliced the download time into about an eighth.

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blibbax

How? Firefox already appears to utilise as much of my bandwith as anything else does D:

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RoyBatty

I used to use the Free Download Manager, but now the Maxthon built-in downloader is all I need.

Takaharu

I haven't got an effing clue but DAP makes 5 simultaneous connections to the same server. Downloading using the generic method will give you a download speed as high as the server you're downloading from allocates to you. If you use DAP, however, it maxes out your bandwidth using the consecutive downloads. Besides which, I don't use FF (but I'd like to play with a pair) and I like the ability to resume an interrupted download (if it were to occur) and pause an effing great big download.
How can it do 5 simultaneous downloads from the same server? I don't know and it's undoubtedly far beyond my comprehension.

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blibbax

I would also like to play with a pair, however I generally find that for most things I download, I can find a DL source as fast as I need.

Like I said, for large files, I prefer to torrent anyway.

Thanks for the explanation, though

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IvanV

Those who use Firefox may want to look into DownThemAll, I can't find any faults with it (except that I wish there were a version for Opera ).

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If anyone has Portal 2 and hasn't played the co-op and wants to do me a favour, let me know (PM me or whatever).

Matth

Seen a lot of recommendations for Firefox DownThemAll, maybe worth changing browser - actually, even FF's own download handling is probably better than IE's.

DAP, yes, interesting, though once again, used to have a spyware issue, not sure if it still does.

Next thought, what goes best with Chrome, or with Opera - or do they do the job well enough on their own?

__________________
Mary had a little lamb,
Her father shot it dead
Now Mary takes her lamb to school,
Between two crusts of bread

blibbax

What browser are you currently using? IE8?

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IvanV

Opera has the ability to resume paused or interrupted downloads (similar to Firefox). Unfortunately, it currently doesn't have an extension like DownThemAll which would accelerate downloads. It keeps all downloads in a single tab (I don't know how IE8 does it, previous versions used to open a new small window for each file being downloaded).

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If anyone has Portal 2 and hasn't played the co-op and wants to do me a favour, let me know (PM me or whatever).

Takaharu

Not that I've found, just an alert each time I run it telling me I haven't paid for it and rolling ads on the side of the main download screen.
Don't minimise the progress windows though, it really likes having them visible; it'll bring itself to the foreground each time it starts a new download. Not so bad if you're only downloading one large file at a time.

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Matth

Yes, IE8, at the mo - for Win7, maybe IE9, or maybe go for something else.

__________________
Mary had a little lamb,
Her father shot it dead
Now Mary takes her lamb to school,
Between two crusts of bread

blibbax

I'd strongly recommend a change of browser if you're currently on IE8, regardless of operating system. IE9 is apparently quite good, but the gulf between IE8 and other free browsers in my experience is just huge. Don't worry about not knowing how to use a different browser, either - most are very similar in their UIs.

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