Thanks for bringing us all one of the best download Manager.
I have tried & used Free Download Manager, Download Accelerator Plus, Download Accelerator Free, Get Right and IDM. Not to forget the default download manager for each of the browser I used. Out of all these IDM is always the fastest for the same download link, and no changes in network or PC. That's why I'll rate IDM as the best.
Good Points:
1. Small download size.
2. No crap included in the download.
3. No-brian installation. I say as there is mere next-next-next clicks & it's installed.
4. It catches all downloads as soon as you press download/attempt a download.
5. It pre-recognized the category of a download link-video, setup-files, compressed files, music, and others. You can add you own custom category and even delete the pre-defined categories as well.
6. You can set the download location for each category above. Once set it always downloads that specific category to the specified folder.
7. It also supports to initiate the download at a later time, rather than immediately. This is very useful as we could let the download start once we are down with some inportant work/browsing.
8. The interface is easy to navigate and use. Nothing fancy though.
9. Once the main window is closed it sits in the tray.
10. If you try download the same file/link it pop-ups that the link/file already exists, do you want to overwrite. Again very useful.
11. If you download a video file it also shows the resolution, length - even before you download. This is very useful preventing you to download cut movies,shows etc. Example below:
AVI: Res. 512x384, 25 samp per sec, Length 43 min 59 sec
12. From the interface>Tasks you can opt to show drop target near the tray/clock. Then you can drag/drop downloads to this area also.
13. It allows batch download and import of links from notepad, as I tested.
14. It allows you to control speed, from "Speed Limiter" option. Here you can specify speed of each download.
15. The site grabber could be used to collect everything on a weblink. I'm not sure how good it works for the entire link, as I just grabbed some 5Gb of data using this. But in past I have used HTTrack Website Copier for 20-25Gb data.
16. It is Multilingual and supports 13 languages.
17. It pop-ups a window whenever there is an update.
18. The updates are very frequent. Almost 1 new build comes out every 15 days.
19. It supports integration of all popular browsers I know about.
20. You can configure in the option to scan the downloads with your virus scanner.
21. It also supports comman line.
Shortcomings:
1. Somewhat fancy interface.
2. Speed Limiter should allow a user to set speed in Kb/sec also. Now it is only KB/sec.
3. It becomes irritating sometimes when I am browsing a webpage with videos or listening a liveradio station (on net), I shows that "Download Video from this page" bar. I wish to have a hotkey to disable/enable it.
4. The help file is still having pics of version 4. High time to update the pics and other relevant information.
5. It takes 10-15 seconds of time to join the segments download, to give a complete download file.
6. Default maximum connections is just 16. I wish it to be 20 and more. FDM has 20.
7. There is no Cancel button on any of the settings page. If I happen to change some setting by mistake, it cannot be undone- unless I close that window.
8. No option to export/import the existing settings. So if there is a re-install, we have to start from the scratch.
In nutshell, IDM is for one & all who do care of long download times. It worked perfectly for my needs and is the BEST out in the market.
I will be extremely delighted if I could win a license for personal use.
Thanks,
Grr

I have tried & used Free Download Manager, Download Accelerator Plus, Download Accelerator Free, Get Right and IDM. Not to forget the default download manager for each of the browser I used. Out of all these IDM is always the fastest for the same download link, and no changes in network or PC. That's why I'll rate IDM as the best.
Good Points:

1. Small download size.
2. No crap included in the download.
3. No-brian installation. I say as there is mere next-next-next clicks & it's installed.
4. It catches all downloads as soon as you press download/attempt a download.
5. It pre-recognized the category of a download link-video, setup-files, compressed files, music, and others. You can add you own custom category and even delete the pre-defined categories as well.
6. You can set the download location for each category above. Once set it always downloads that specific category to the specified folder.
7. It also supports to initiate the download at a later time, rather than immediately. This is very useful as we could let the download start once we are down with some inportant work/browsing.
8. The interface is easy to navigate and use. Nothing fancy though.
9. Once the main window is closed it sits in the tray.
10. If you try download the same file/link it pop-ups that the link/file already exists, do you want to overwrite. Again very useful.
11. If you download a video file it also shows the resolution, length - even before you download. This is very useful preventing you to download cut movies,shows etc. Example below:
AVI: Res. 512x384, 25 samp per sec, Length 43 min 59 sec
12. From the interface>Tasks you can opt to show drop target near the tray/clock. Then you can drag/drop downloads to this area also.
13. It allows batch download and import of links from notepad, as I tested.
14. It allows you to control speed, from "Speed Limiter" option. Here you can specify speed of each download.
15. The site grabber could be used to collect everything on a weblink. I'm not sure how good it works for the entire link, as I just grabbed some 5Gb of data using this. But in past I have used HTTrack Website Copier for 20-25Gb data.
16. It is Multilingual and supports 13 languages.
17. It pop-ups a window whenever there is an update.
18. The updates are very frequent. Almost 1 new build comes out every 15 days.
19. It supports integration of all popular browsers I know about.
20. You can configure in the option to scan the downloads with your virus scanner.
21. It also supports comman line.
Shortcomings:

1. Somewhat fancy interface.
2. Speed Limiter should allow a user to set speed in Kb/sec also. Now it is only KB/sec.
3. It becomes irritating sometimes when I am browsing a webpage with videos or listening a liveradio station (on net), I shows that "Download Video from this page" bar. I wish to have a hotkey to disable/enable it.
4. The help file is still having pics of version 4. High time to update the pics and other relevant information.
5. It takes 10-15 seconds of time to join the segments download, to give a complete download file.
6. Default maximum connections is just 16. I wish it to be 20 and more. FDM has 20.
7. There is no Cancel button on any of the settings page. If I happen to change some setting by mistake, it cannot be undone- unless I close that window.
8. No option to export/import the existing settings. So if there is a re-install, we have to start from the scratch.
In nutshell, IDM is for one & all who do care of long download times. It worked perfectly for my needs and is the BEST out in the market.

I will be extremely delighted if I could win a license for personal use.

Thanks,
Grr