Don't Use Browsers for Large Files, Download Managers Do the Job Faster & Safer
The built-in download manager of your go-to web browser is probably capable of downloading small- and medium-sized files fast and easy. You can start the session and carry on with your typical browsing activities.
However, it's not that good at downloading large and very large files. They might even cause your browser to hang or crash, losing your unsaved work and interrupting the downloads. To avoid such scenarios, large file downloads should be left in the hand of professional applications, namely download managers made to fetch multiple files at the same time and at a greater speed than browsers.
We have selected three such tools to show you the quickest method for setting up a downloading task: EagleGet, Free Download Manager and Internet Download Manager. They are also equipped with features for resuming downloads (in case of power failure or other interruptions), scheduling tasks to later autorun without your assistance, and more.
EagleGet EagleGet can be integrated with Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer, as well as other browsers by manually adding them. Because of this, it warns you during installation that it will close all your active browsers, so make sure to save the sessions confirming this action (click Yes to proceed).
Once the setup is over, the application creates an icon in the systray (near the system clock) and asks for permission to enable its extension in your web browsers.
To download a file using EagleGet, click a download link. The web browser no longer starts downloading the file with the built-in download manager but EagleGet responds to the command instead. It brings up a window to the screen to display the source link and file name, giving you the possibility to edit them (click inside the two boxes to delete and type). Otherwise, right-click the tray icon and select Add Download from the menu.
Click the folder icon to choose a new directory to save the files if you're not pleased with the default location, then click Ok to start the download.
Also, EagleGet comes bundled with options for downloading batches of files at once, scheduling downloading jobs, controlling the number of CPU threads and limiting the speed limit (to help manage PC performance), validating file integrity with MD5 or SHA1 checksums, sniffing videos, and auto-shutting down or hibernating the computer once the task is over.
Free Download Manager Free Download Manager (FDM) can be integrated with Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Edge. After setup, it runs in the systray and offers to install its extensions, depending on the browser you've downloaded it from.
The program shows a window when you click a download link, along with the file name and default saving directory. Click inside the name box to set a new filename, and click the folder icon to specify a new folder for saving. Click Download to start the job. If you click Cancel instead, the file will be fetched by the browser's download manager (this can be disabled from Settings while FDM can be set to react only when the Alt key is pressed).
Another way of creating a downloading job is by clicking the blue plus button on the upper left side of the main window, or by dragging and dropping URLs in this area.
FDM is able to download torrents and multiple files in bulk, resume broken downloads caused by interruptions, limit the downloading traffic to become lighter on resources usage, skip files by extensions, and preallocate disk space for very large files (you can set the minimum number of gigabytes).
Internet Download Manager Internet Download Manager (IDM) supports browser integration with Firefox, Internet Explorer, Netscape, MSN Explorer, AOL, Opera, Mozilla, Firebird, Avant Browser, MyIE2 and others.
Once the browser extensions are installed, IDM brings up a window to the screen when you click a download link. It shows the target URL, default Category (General) and default saving folder (Save As), and it's set to Remember this path for the "General" category.
Click the button with the suspension marks to indicate another folder to save the file, then click Start Download to begin. It's also possible to create a task by clicking the Add URL button in the toolbar of the main app window.
Furthermore, IDM has options for scheduling download jobs, resuming interrupted downloads, getting batches of files simultaneously, grabbing multiple files from a specified website, controlling the downloading speed and file size, as well as organizing files into different categories.
Play our video guide below to see how easy it is to create downloading tasks using these three tools. You can also download EagleGet, Free Download Manager and Internet Download Manager.
