FlashGet 3.7.0.1195

The annoying part of downloading files from the internet is that the whole process can take a very long time – this goes double for those of you that have a rather poor internet connection. What you would need is a download accelerator, something that will take the file you want to download, break it in pieces and simultaneously download each piece. And to help you put all your downloads in order, you could use a download manager as well.

FlashGet does all of the things I’ve mentioned above: it helps you download files from the internet speedily and helps you manage the aforementioned downloads, and does it all at absolutely no cost. FlashGet supports several download protocols, making it a properly good piece of software to get: HTTP, FTP, BitTorrent, MMS, RTSP, eMule, eDonkey and other protocols. Which is great, because after playing with this software application, I was willing to part with some money in order to get it.

What I liked the most was the fact that FlashGet does its job swiftly and without severely impacting the functionality of my computer. I gave it a task to perform, left the software running in the background and went on with my usual tasks. FlashGet used up minimal system resources and I did not even notice it was running.

When you want to download multiple files at once, any download manager must be able to provide a feature called batch downloading. FlashGet does indeed provide such a feature (handles batch downloading quite nicely by the way) and adds to it one other: download scheduling. FlashGet will accelerate your downloads, but when you ask it to pull down numerous files, you may end up using your whole bandwidth. The download scheduling feature helps you avoid such a scenario – simply schedule the order in which you want files to be downloaded, or schedule the time when you want FlashGet to start downloading them (like when you are not using your computer).

Here’s something of value for the novice computer user that never used FlashGet before: after you download and install the software, a dark icon will be placed on the desktop. It will stay there until you move it some other place, and will always be displayed on top of whatever app you have running at the time. It comes with this “always on top” behavior for a reason: so that you can drag and drop a link onto it, click OK and download whatever file you want (the download process starts automatically after you click OK).

If you want to pull all downloadable files off a particular webpage and onto your computer, FlashGet comes with a Site Explorer feature that lets you download multiple files from that webpage. The Site Explorer feature, which looks very much the same as Windows Explorer, recognizes most file types and is great for navigating graphic-heavy sites.

Pros
Comes free of charge
Download accelerator and download management software
Auto connect/disconnect
Download scheduling
Site Explorer feature
No adware, no spyware

Cons
Comes bundled with Google Toolbar

FlashGet has been reviewed by George Norman on 10 Sep 2009. Based on the user interface, features and complexity, Findmysoft has rated FlashGet 5 out of 5 stars, naming it Essential