This popular, free, open-source download manager speeds up the
acquisition of multiple downloads by breaking the files into
smaller pieces, then downloading these simultaneously. Trying it
out, I found I was able to download several full-length movies in
less time than it took me to find these legal downloads. In thirty
minutes of dilatory browsing, using the default setting of no more
than four concurrent downloads at a time, I managed to burden my
hard drive with 488 megabytes' worth of material, including three
full-length film classics, a dozen flash video files from YouTube,
a handful of movie trailers, two music videos, and an old Mighty
Mouse cartoon.
FDM will automatically resume interrupted downloads, and can
download using Bittorrent in newer versions of Windows, though it
will prompt you before enabling the peer-to-peer protocol. FDM will
also alert you if it detects spyware or adware in a prospective
download.
--Leigh Anne Jones
