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Installing and using Free Download Manager
Free Download Manager neatly packages useful features that help ensure successful and 'Golden' downloads and works hand in hand with our Vault
Why should this be of interest to me?
You may find you need to download one or more large files from our vault, you also probably want it as quickly as possible and want to know when it is downloaded the integrity of the file has been maintained.
You have probably heard of MD5Sum to check integrity, but consider it a nuisance or it challenges your confidence!
How and Why does Free Download Manager address these?
Free Download Manager addresses the speed issue by opening more threads to the web server hosting the files you want, rather like a Torrent does, therefore it is much more efficient at saturating your download bandwidth than any browser (they restrict threads to only one or two per HTTP transaction.
I have found it able to increase download speed SIX FOLD in testing - your results may vary depending upon your available bandwidth.
It also has a built in MD5 Sum checking facility, you enter (where provided) the MD5 Sum for the file and it checks integrity after downloading, offering to restart download if corruption is detected.
No longer will you have to download, then find the file and manually confirm integrity and restart the download if it is found to be corrupt.
OK I'm convinced, where do I get Free Download Manager and how much does it cost?
As the name suggests 'Free Download Manager' is Free, whats more it is open source too!
Grab a copy of 3.5RC (supports FF4 better) from here:
FDM RC Repository
Home Page is here:
Free Download Manager
Install it, I accepted all the defaults except 'Load at Startup'.
By default it will install plugins to both FireFox and Internet Explorer, both work.
Configuring to support Opera and Chrome details will be added later.
Using FDM With the DangerDogz Vault
If file corruption is detected (only if an MD5Sum was provided) you will be advised and it will offer to re-download again.
Be aware, if you get the sum wrong - miss a character or paste in the wrong one, you will have to cancel and restart the download and apply correct MD5Sum as in step 8 above.
Other useful stuff:
It will work on most sites that support resume.
You can schedule downloads.
You can set it to use high, medium or low bandwidth.
It can detect active browser use and throttle download to keep browsing responsive.
Free Download Manager neatly packages useful features that help ensure successful and 'Golden' downloads and works hand in hand with our Vault
Why should this be of interest to me?
You may find you need to download one or more large files from our vault, you also probably want it as quickly as possible and want to know when it is downloaded the integrity of the file has been maintained.
You have probably heard of MD5Sum to check integrity, but consider it a nuisance or it challenges your confidence!
How and Why does Free Download Manager address these?
Free Download Manager addresses the speed issue by opening more threads to the web server hosting the files you want, rather like a Torrent does, therefore it is much more efficient at saturating your download bandwidth than any browser (they restrict threads to only one or two per HTTP transaction.
I have found it able to increase download speed SIX FOLD in testing - your results may vary depending upon your available bandwidth.
It also has a built in MD5 Sum checking facility, you enter (where provided) the MD5 Sum for the file and it checks integrity after downloading, offering to restart download if corruption is detected.
No longer will you have to download, then find the file and manually confirm integrity and restart the download if it is found to be corrupt.
OK I'm convinced, where do I get Free Download Manager and how much does it cost?
As the name suggests 'Free Download Manager' is Free, whats more it is open source too!
Grab a copy of 3.5RC (supports FF4 better) from here:
FDM RC Repository
Home Page is here:
Free Download Manager
Install it, I accepted all the defaults except 'Load at Startup'.
By default it will install plugins to both FireFox and Internet Explorer, both work.
Configuring to support Opera and Chrome details will be added later.
Using FDM With the DangerDogz Vault
- Start FDM
- In Firefox navigate to required download (example given is part 14 of the UP3 Mod)
- In FireFox navigate through until you see the 'Your files are available below' message
- Hover mouse over green Download button, right click and select 'Download with Free Download Manager'
- Tick 'User name and password are required' box and supply your forum username and password
- Modify 'Save to folder:' to suit your requirements
- If an MD5Sum is available and you wish to check integrity then click 'Advanced' button
- On 'Integrity' tab paste the MD5Sum into text box make sure it is the correct sum and is complete!
- Click 'OK' then 'OK' to start download
- If desired save password
- Download will now start
- You can see progress and how many connections are active on the 'Site Manager' tab
If file corruption is detected (only if an MD5Sum was provided) you will be advised and it will offer to re-download again.
Be aware, if you get the sum wrong - miss a character or paste in the wrong one, you will have to cancel and restart the download and apply correct MD5Sum as in step 8 above.
Other useful stuff:
It will work on most sites that support resume.
You can schedule downloads.
You can set it to use high, medium or low bandwidth.
It can detect active browser use and throttle download to keep browsing responsive.
