14 DAY TRIAL // The new version released is 1.8 beta1 and I hope you will be thrilled to know that it is still free and it has included support for torrent download. I must tell you that the feature is not in tip top condition and the developer is still working at the entire version. If you want to get to the new features go to the end of the review (before The Truth section).
Download managers have been around us a long time now. Internet users either use the built-in download manager the browser comes with, or an external stand alone software. Personally, until not long ago I used web-browser tools to do that. But I ran into some problems as my Internet connection was a little "washed out" and I needed to download the files in a certain order. What could I do? I turned to the biggest database of all times, a.k.a. the Internet, and started my search for a tool capable of fulfilling my wish.
I ran into all sorts of softwares that promised to increase my download speed, filled with a myriad of options that I did not need, features I had never heard of before, etc. I downloaded one of them and after reaching high levels of meditation while trying to figure out their options and features I aborted my mission and resumed my work the next day. I was lucky that my Internet connection came to its senses and I managed to get my files in a jiffy.
But let's quit the yapping and cut to the chase. After this experience, I decided to look for a software that would come in handy. I bumped into FlashGet, a software developed by Amaze Soft. They put it on the market for free, so you can use it anywhere at any time.
The installation went swift and clean. The executable file will not take more than 3MB of your disk space. The interface of the software is skinnable and not only has it five beautiful skins to change, but you can even use the pictures you have on your hard disk as themes for the application window. That is pretty cool, considering that not many softwares support this feature.
The software is extremely flexible and it allows you to create categories for everything you download from the Internet. There are already several categories in the application, like Software, Game, Driver, and MP3. It will help you manage your downloads better, by setting - on your disk - a download folder for each category. Thus, you can keep track of the downloaded files, the files that are currently downloading, or the deleted jobs.
The possibility of scheduling your downloads will let you save your bandwidth for some other, more important files. Also, for an efficient exploitation of the Internet connection, the software will split large downloads into up to ten files. The software cannot download more than eight files at a time and it will make sure that all the bandwidth is used.
The program will make available for the users a set of options that can be accessed very easily from the toolbar or under Tools. Here you can set the download options (resume broken downloads, start downloading at startup), the maximum simultaneous jobs (the default is three), the retry delay in case the website is not responding, the colors of the graphic log; the user can make such setting as to use the stand alone virus scanner to check the files that are being downloaded.
In Sounds tab - under Options - you can change the default sounds for when the file has been successfully downloaded, for the download failure, or for when all the downloads have finished. The default sounds are a bit artificial and robotic and - in my opinion - the lady talking has a voice as if she were threatened with a gun to her head.
But the feature that I like most is Schedule. It will allow you to set the time and day to start the download and an end point. Don't take it as the most convenient way and think that at the time of the scheduled download stop all files will be on your computer and ready to use. If the files are not finished by that time, the software will resume the session the next day or when it is scheduled.
But this option will only allow you to schedule all the files to be downloaded at the same hour.
The Batch Download option is also a time saver.
But all these features are old news by now, as the 1.8.0 beta1 version is already out and announces changes that will take FlashGet back to the top.
If you go in Tools>Options you will notice that the tabs have increased their number by one and implemented the torrent download support. The options in BitTorrent allow the user to set the maximum download/upload speed, the maximum disk cache (default value is set to 100MB) and randomly select the listen port. After the download is finished the user can keep the torrent alive as a seeder.
The Good
The software is super-easy to use and the features and options are designed only to make your downloading needs more manageable.
The scheduling option is great, as it will restrict the use of bandwidth between a certain time interval set by the user. The skinnable interface will allow the user to customize the look of the application window to his/her own taste.
You can also establish some limits to the download speed by making the desired settings in Connection, under Options.
Implementation of the BitTorrent feature, which proves that the software keeps up with the trend
The Bad
The Schedule option does not work individually, for each file. A minor problem appeared when deleting the torrent from the download list. It kept uploading but I could not find the file in the download directory. And I could not find the downloaded file anywhere on my disk. But at a second test (both on my computer and a different one) the option acted fine.
There are still some problems with the implementation of torrent as the speed variations are too chaotic (I had fifteen seeders all with 100% file). And also there were some gaps during the download.
The Truth
Truth be told, this software is ahead of many others in its category. If I had to pay money to get it, I would have done that in a flash. But thank God that now it is free and does an amazing job.
The user can add comments about the website, on the downloading files or on anything else. Renaming them is no problem at all and that category feature will help the user to keep them in order.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
