Despite the constant bandwidth increases offered by ISPs, using download managers for getting large files on your computer is still a good way to cut corners and reduce the wait time. Built with this purpose in mind and designed to address the average users, Microsoft Download Manager keeps true to its name and offers another way to get data from the Web.
The freebie is offered by Microsoft to help their users download all sorts of files simply and easily. However, at core it was designed for downloading data from supporting Microsoft websites. To put it briefly, it was built as an alternative to the download manager in the older versions of Internet Explorer, which did not allow pausing and resuming the process.
Installing the application is a click-through, three-step process that requires you to accept the license agreement and defining the installation folder. It is a simple operation that can be easily completed by the less experienced computer users with no trouble.
The interface is as straightforward as can be, with a simple window showing the main knobs of the program and a small configuration button that takes you to the underpinnings of the software.
Full management possibilities are available in the main application window only when download jobs are in progress. The options available include control over each task separately, so you can pause and resume downloads individually. Additionally, you can set the action button to open the file when the download completes.
There are also controls for the entire list of initiated download tasks. You can suspend all jobs or resume them with a click of a button. Clearing the list is done in the same effortless manner.
Once the download job starts you’ll be able to see the size of the file to be stored on your computer, the progress of the job and an estimation of the completion time. In our case the latter was never a value we could rely on as it changed on a constant basis.
Another negative aspect was the fact that the progress bar does not show task completion percentage. You only get a bar that keeps filling up and the unreliable time estimation. At times we also got connection errors accompanied by advice directing us to verify the Internet connection, which was absolutely fine; restarting the job would fix the issue.
Like any download manager, this too supports multiple connections in order to bring large files on the computer faster. Microsoft Download Manager can put to work a maximum of 16 connections at the same time, and this is the setup we used during our evaluation.
Additional configuration options let you define the maximum number of retries in case of download errors as well as their frequency. Another important aspect is instructing the app to dump the downloads in a folder of your choice.
To get an idea on the speed of the “transaction” we compared Microsoft Download Manager with the default managers in the latest versions of Google Chrome and Internet Explorer. The two files chosen for the test were 76.9MB and 388.2MB large.
To our surprise, in the case of the smaller item MDM took the most time to complete the download, spending 26 seconds on the job. Google Chrome came in second with 19.7’’ while Internet Explorer 9 fulfilled the task almost two seconds faster than the runner up, in 17.9’’.
With the larger file things did not change with regards to the fastest on the job, Internet Explorer 9 remaining the fastest of the bunch, getting the 388MB in 1’56’’, not counting the almost 5 second scan of the file. Microsoft Download Manager came in second this time, spending 2’07’’ with the download, while Google Chrome took 2’16’’ to retrieve the file.
MDM proved to be an extremely simple download manager that can’t even be used to replace the default download solutions in the major browsers. In order to start a download you have to add it manually to the list. Some automatic functionality might be encompassed by the application, but compatibility is limited to some Microsoft websites.
Overall, the app showed that it can be very well replaced quite successfully by the managers already included in the latest versions of today’s popular web browsers.
The Good It installs quickly and comes with a list of extremely easy to understand options. You get to manage download tasks either in bulk or individually.
The application can resume the download task even if it is turned off unexpectedly without initially pausing the job; it will resume the task at the next launch with no trouble.
The Bad Besides the lack of integration in the web browsers we noticed that its download speeds are sometimes worse than what modern browsers offer. Additionally, we witnessed error connections out of the blue which caused re-initiation of the download job.
The Truth Microsoft Download Manager is definitely no longer a tool answering today’s download needs. On the same connection it was slower than the default download manager in Internet Explorer.
Handling is intuitive for any type of user but the comfort of automatically retrieving the download link or associating itself with a web browser is inexistent.
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