Downloading files from the Internet, especially large ones or when you want to download several files at once, requires a certain type of application, such as download managers.

Using it will allow you to make the most of the internet connection you have contracted, whether you have a faster optical connection or ADSL. Although speeding up transfers is their strong point, download managers have other benefits as they allow you to automate transfers, schedule them, restore and generally manage and curate content better.

Operations and benefits of managers

These types of applications use mirror websites (mirrors) by using multiple connections to the same file to speed up downloads or automatically choose between several servers that have the file available and choose the one that offers better stability and performance.

Another important point is his ability resume download voluntarily suspended or interrupted by a server or line error without losing any part of the files downloaded up to that point. It also prevents incomplete downloads from being corrupted if accidentally disconnected.

They also enable automate and schedule downloading or uploading at the times we are most interested in, usually outside the working day or at night, when the networks are less saturated, in addition, it downloads a large number of files at the same time, prioritizing performance over the ones we are most interested in, or limiting the download speed so as not to overwhelm the connection and allowed us to use the device in functions such as web browsing or others.

Another added benefit of these tools is management by file type and more accurate information about transfer speed and download time. Some of them offer additional features such as an antivirus to check for malware or a browser to preview video and audio.

Download Manager for Windows

Although specific plugins for web browsers can be used in this matter, which we will see later, there is nothing better than a dedicated and independent application to do this while keeping the browsers as clean as possible. There are many of them. Here we suggest the ones we like best.

JDownloader. One of the most used especially when we work with direct download services and multiple files. An open source platform written in Java with lots of it engage use, such as splitting into packages to pause and resume individual downloads. It has captcha recognition, which allows batch downloads without user intervention. In addition to Windows, it has versions for Linux and Mac. If you use many direct download servers, this is a great reference.

FlashGet. A download manager classic that’s been with us for almost 20 years and promises to speed up transfers “between 6 and 10 times”. It includes general download manager functions including anti-virus scanning. You can download from websites, from FTP and even .torrent files, although in this case it is always better to use a dedicated P2P client. To start the download, simply drag the download link into a small window that acts as a minimal interface. An interface that could use an update, although for many it is still the best in the business. It also has a portable app.

Free download manager. Another of the good download managers (a free alternative to the well-known Internet Download Manager), which can also be used in a portable version on all your Windows devices without the need for installation. Like previous download managers, it increases download speed by splitting the file into parts and connecting from multiple mirror sites, allows you to resume and schedule downloads, a video and audio viewer before the download is complete, and much more. It includes an HTML Spider feature that allows you to download entire web pages.

EagleGet. Simple and effective, it promises up to six times the download speed of what it would take to download a simple direct download from a web browser. It is multilingual, has the ability to pause and resume, day and time programming, integrity check, malware check and even a video format converter. It has all the basic functions of this kind of tools. It offers seamless integration with web browsers, remote file downloads, antivirus downloads, download scheduling, and has the ability to resume downloads even if you restart your computer or use a different internet connection.

BitComet. You may know it more as a BitTorrent client, but it also includes HTTP and FTP support, allowing it to act as a download manager.

Internet Download Accelerator. Also known as IDA, it is a free manager developed by Ukrainian company WestByte. It includes HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP protocol support and provides integration for Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera, and Safari web browsers. It has a built-in site manager for storing site username and password. Users can preview the contents of RAR files before downloading.

Administrators in browsers

As we said above, web browsers can also be used for this task. The managers themselves usually don’t have much to offer, but the extras that can be added do. We leave you with some of them as an example:

DownThemAll (Firefox). It’s our favorite manager for the Mozilla web browser and one of the absolute best plugins you can find. Its integration with Mozilla is perfect and it even integrates with Firefox’s download menu. It is capable of detecting all media links on a web page (with appropriate filters), automatically downloads them at high speed, and allows them to be summarized.

Video download helper (Firefox and Chrome). Ideal if you’re looking for a program to download the occasional video on the web. It doesn’t work for some Youtube videos, as it usually happens with these managers.

Chrono download manager (Chrome). Exclusive to the Google browser, it integrates very well with the interface and use of your download system. It includes a “Chrono Sniffer” feature that detects all links, images, audio and video on a web page.

Fruumo Download Manager. (Chrome) Without such integration as the previous one, it does its job as an administrator in the Google browser with an intuitive interface. Very simple, but download, pause and resume downloads like others.

EagleGet. Without the power of the installable version, you can integrate it into Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Opera browsers.