egafd.com

I'm looking for personal recommendations rather than a list.

I found Gozilla incomprehensible.
Webstripper is very easy on most sites but can't always crack them.
I've just tried FlashGet, you need a degree in Computer Science to understand the manual.

So.....

Mart

Their all crap...the free ones especially

Real Download is probably the best I've used
Never failed to start & all broken downloads resumed easily
I wouldn't recommend it now as its a spyware nightmare along with all other real.com products

If I've assumed right you want an automated download manager that will download complete sites onto your harddrive for offline browsing?

Webstripper sounds like a one off program if this is the case
although there was that site(web crawler) someone posted that said it had access to 800,000 sites

cheers
B....OZ

I think it depends a lot on what you expect the download manager to do for you.

For browsing I don't use Internet Explorer or Netscape, I use Firefox from Mozilla which has a built in download manager for saving things like MPEGS and ZIPS etc.. but it does have a few key limitations.

I used a few years back "GetRight" which was OK at the time, but I think has turned shite.
"Real Download" manager is better than most, but some of its behaviour winds me up.
Sometimes I use "GetBot" which is more grabbing files from websites that a "download manager".
Avoid anything that involves Gator like the plague, it will screw you up. worse than drugs


I think you need to work out the features you want and compare products against this. A good place to download shareware or working demos is www.tucows.com or buy a magazine (eg PC Format) which routinely includes a wide range of utilities on the cover CD/DVD.


I also agree with the Spyware scenario and always suggest running some tools, eg "AdAware" and "Spybot Search & Destroy". And a daily updated virus checker. And a Firewall. Then upgrade to Linux as Windows is crap.

I'm not looking for something that will steal material. I'm a very honest geezer but I do find it frustrating when Webmasters make it very difficult to download material you have paid to see.
But the current problem is that WebStripper is failing to download from a couple of sites where the Webmasters are helpful enough by putting later material in Zips.

Mart

Mart, again I also use a good 1 of these programs, DAP.

Contact me via Email, or post here what your after & I can see what we can come up with

NONE of my Programs has SpyWare/Gator/Trojans/etc... To make sure, everything I use, is regularly tested with ALL the latest versions of:

Ad-Aware
Spy-Ware
Spy-Bot Killer
Trojan Hunter
Worm-Killer
AVG Anti-Virus

And ALL the PROGAMS I use are returned with a CLEAN bill of health.