14 DAY TRIAL // There was a time when the 56K dial-up modem was the best solution for "fast" Internet connections. It had just surpassed it's older 28K brother, and whoever had it could brag about all the websites he/she could visit in so little time.
But times change, and today, rather than connecting using a dial-up modem, it's easier and more comfortable to go to an Internet Cafe and read the latest news, download software or do whatever Internet related activity you like.
To be honest, I wouldn't go back to a dial-up connection unless I were stranded on a deserted island and this would be my only means of checking the latest additions on softpedia.com.
Just for this case I thought that an offline browser would come in handy, so that I can have all the information downloaded onto my hard drive at once, and not worry about losing the connection.
Working offline
Little did I search when I've found Teleport Pro, a small utility that does all the offline browsing I need.
This webspider is simple in design, and straight to the point in functionality. You have the option of manually configuring your download settings for the websites that you want to browse offline, or you can use the featured wizard, that will do almost all the work for you. All you have to know is the address of the website.
There are many options and limitations to choose from, making this a good tool for your browsing needs.
When you first run the program, the built-in wizard pops up to help you, providing several options. You can choose from creating a browseable offline copy of the website, duplicating the website (including the structure), search for a certain file type on the page, explore every site that's linked from a specific central site, retrieve one or more files from an address that you specify, or, you can just search a website for keywords.
When trying to make an offline copy of the page so that you can check it out later, you have the option of not downloading images, sounds and so on. Of course, you are free to choose to download everything the page contains. You can adjust the deepness of your search, by increasing/decreasing the number of links you want Teleport to explore, from the starting address.
If you're not satisfied with just the site that's located at the address you've mentioned, you can have Teleport download all external pages that are linked from that central page, so you can get a more panoramic view.
And, if that's not enough, you can download a whole website, including directory structure. This can take up more time, but once you're finished, the page surfing is a lot faster than your 56k connection.
A useful feature, created for the ones that don't have the time and connection resources, is to search a site for certain file types. You have a list to choose from, divided into categories: graphics, text, executable, archive, video, audio. If you want to search for a file type that's not on the list, there's the option of defining your own. You can add as many file types to your search as you want, so that you get a whole collection as a result. If you can't get to a result using this method, you can search the site for a keyword (who needs search engines anymore?)
The wizard is not your only option, and as you use the program more and more, you'll know exactly what you want it to do, and can configure the projects manually. Nevertheless, you can create a project using the wizard, and then add some fine tuning from the preferences panel. Presently spam takes a lot of the Internet, and it would be ironical to get it when you're browsing offline too. There's no need to worry, because you have the option of excluding certain web pages or file types to be downloaded onto your hard drive.
There is no resume option, but to make up for it, you get a warning alert if you try to close the program while a project is still running.
You do, however have the option of scheduling projects to be downloaded: just once (by specifying the scheduled date and time), at startup, or on a regular basis (hourly, daily, monthly) depending on how up to date you want to be.
Also, should hard disk space be an issue, you can have the program stop running once the available space drops below a certain amount.
Even though it can turn out to be a nagging issue with some programs, you can add and remove the program to the IE context menu really easy, from the main File menu.
The Good
This program does its job well. When running it for the first time you might get confused with the settings, but after a little while it's all clear and simple.
The Bad
The program is limited to 40 uses, and can save a maximum of 500 files per project. Also, it doesn't have a built-in browser, but it opens all pages with your default one, and since it's the one you constantly use, I don't think this is a major fault.
The Truth
If you have a slow Internet connection or if you plan to copy the whole Internet on your hard drive, Teleport Pro will assist you. It's not difficult to work with, and it offers a simple and clean interface.
Here are some pictures of the program doing its work:
