Probably the most powerful full featured yet free , The Free Download Manager , software which allows you to manage your download, organize, schedule , speed-up Internet file downloads and even make it faster when optimized. It supports Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP but Vista is yet to come.

Many of us are using in out day to day life but do we actually make the most out of it ? I have seen people using a software and they are very happy but on real terms we don’t harnesses the power of the software. What could be the reason ? probably we don’t explore it more.

If you don’t know , “Free Download Manager can speed up the downloads up to 400% in real time.In this post we will explore some important aspects of FDM ( Free download manager ) and get to know it better. Important features of Free Download Manager ( You should Know )

Download Modes

By default FDM takes maximum of you download speed when used and hence of you are browsing at the same time , the sites open slow.

So if you want to balance it out used the three different modes are available for download, Heavy, Medium and Light, which allow to download at fast speed, medium speed and slow sped respectively. Thus, allowing you to utilize your Internet connection as per your convenience, that is Heavy Mode utilizes the max of your Internet connection for download, leaving other processes at a slow speed, Medium and Light mode work respectively.

Quickly Switching to Light Mode

Now you don’t want to keep on switching from Heavy mode to light every time you browse. FDM gives you a direct option of switching to Light Mode as soon as you start browsing and goes back to previous setting as soon as you stop. Press CTRL + O to open the Download Options Menu and click on Network tab. You will find the option “Decrease traffic usage on browser activity”. You can also set the limits of download for all the modes here.

Mastering the Scheduler:

This comes very handy if you are downloading at night. FDM has an inbuilt scheduler which allows you to select any download and put it on a particular schedule ( may be to night or Friday night

Just right click on the file you are downloading and click on schedule or just click the Clock under options menu.

The tabs on the lower part of interface can be used to view progress, preview of media files (which allows you to check, if you are downloading the required file), feedback can be given for any particular file.

Exporting and Importing Settings and download list

In case you are re installing your OS and you still have some download left , FDM allows you to export all your settings, List of current downloads and history of downloads. Thus once you have optimized FDM for maximum download you just need to import these settings if you have to reinstall .

Creating a Portable version of Free Download Manager

If you want to use FDM anywhere on the move with installing an others computer, creating portable version is the best option. Check the above image for the menu location and this is what it can do

Portable version of Free Download Manager is for using it on different computers
without necessity to install and configure it on each computer.

You may place it on flash disk for example.

Once launched it will register itself in the computer’s system and integrates to
browsers. And at exit it will un register itself automatically.

Choose here the path where you would like to create this version. This should
be the folder on some removable drive.

E.G. “I:\My portable programs\”.

Guarding downloads with Antivirus

ownloading from Internet might not be very safe if its a random site. Like downloading from torrent might contain viruses in zip files. FDM allows you to scan your files as soon as you download. ( Were you looking for this feature )

Press CTRL + O and open the options. Select All Downloads and at the end you will see the option where you can set your anti virus program. You might also skip some files like .TXT or .DOC as they are likely not be infected.

Have Your say!!

That’s from my side on FDM. There are couple of more settings but I would like you to explore more on it . This way we will be able to interact better. You tell me some points which I can add on!!!!