TRUSTED Download Manager discussion

[justice]

So there's all the recent discussions about whether or not there is hidden spyware /adware in certain download managers. Which ones can we trust? I also heard people talking about similar issues in the past, but was unable to find any info.

As donationcoder.com does not seem to have a download manager (yet?) that we know we can trust, what download managers can you recommend? What are the essential features?

Also, would it be safer to use a DM that has never had ads? Or is open-source? or is paid and properly supported? A lot of questions and I don't have any answers. Please help 

[Wordzilla]

Free Download Manager and Internet Download Manager (shareware)

[lanux128]

yes, i'd go for Free Download Manager.

[attach=#]

[Grorgy]

If you use firefox you may want to consider a firefox extension Down them All, which seems to do a pretty good job, simple, nothing fancy, just depends on your needs really.

[lanux128]

speaking of Firefox, there's the FlashGot extension that automatically detects and integrates the available download manager on the system.. here is the list of download managers that it supports.. 

[justice]

Am testing out FDM now! I actually used it before, but I couldn't find any background info on the company.

[gjehle]

i only used download managers back in the days when i had ISDN
who needs a download manages in the times of 6+ mbit DSL ?
haven't used one in years

[justice]

mostly for either unreliable servers such as motherboard manufacterers in taiwan or to speed up files over 1cd large, or to download many files on 1 site at a time.

[Grorgy]

i find a download manager useful when im having trouble selecting the bit i need to download, you get a list of all the possible downloadable items and can choose, probably other ways of doing it, but that works for me

[Liquidmantis]

i only used download managers back in the days when i had ISDN
who needs a download manages in the times of 6+ mbit DSL ?
haven't used one in years

Beware myopic logic 

FDM works great for me and allows me to resume, throttle, or pause downloads.  It has a set of profiles to allow me to easily download to different locations.  And it frees me to close my browser as needed rather than having the download as a child process.