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Free Internet Download Manager

Program that can manage and accelerate multiple downloads

5.7

14 Votes

  • Category Download Managers
  • Program license Free
  • Version 3.9.2 build 1301
  • Size 3.9 MB
  • Works under: Windows 7 / Windows Vista / Windows 2003 / Windows XP / Windows 2000 / Windows 98
  • Program available in English
  • Program by Free Internet Download Manager

Free Internet Download Manager IDM is a program that helps you schedule downloads, manage those downloads in batches and queues and even maximize download speeds on a fast connection.

If you download many files from the Web, then Internet Download Manager or IDM is a program that can make that task much easier. The program works standalone or alongside a web browser and lets you schedule downloads. Scheduling is useful if you want to avoid peak hours or have many files to download and want them to do so without your ongoing interaction. IDM supports batching, and you set up queues and prioritize files and even entire projects.

Free Internet Download Manager supports filters that allow it to recognize file types, such as images, audio and video. You can use this filtering to sort downloaded files in appropriate folders automatically. IDM also supports compressed folders, and you can sort directly into a compressed archive to save space. This can be particularly handy when downloading numerous text documents.

IDM isn’t limited to downloading from direct links. You can also use it, for instance, to download images, music and video from practically any website. You can even set it to download an entire site so that you have a local copy, and if you choose, IDM can update the local version at regular intervals or whenever your load the program.

This application isn’t limited to downloading one file at a time; it can download multiple files simultaneously and can actually request specific parts of a file if the server supports it. Concurrent downloads help you to maximize your Internet connection particularly if a server is artificially limiting throughput on a per-connection basis. Being able to download files in segments means that you pause and resume downloads and use multiple connections to download a single file faster. Pause and resume are available to the user but can also be used automatically by IDM to schedule, prioritize and get the most out of an Internet connection. It also means that the program can repair a broken or corrupted file simply be re-downloading the tainted sections rather than the entire file.

The only criticism of Free Internet Download Manager IDM is that the user interface is a bit complex and unattractive by modern standards. Some users will appreciate the to-the-point approach, but it will certainly be a turnoff for others. Nevertheless, this is highly useful and stable software tool, and if you can take advantage of that performance, you should have no problem overlooking its outdated UI.

Pros

  • Simple and intuitive
  • Schedule downloads
  • Can maximize speeds on fast connections

Cons

  • Busy and dated UI
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