[Written Review] Internet Download Manager: The best and Fastest

During daily internet use, you are downloading files, (for example books, videos, apps and many more). If you depend on the built in windows download function you will have many problems such as very slow and interrupted download. You will spend many hours to download a single file. In addition, no resume of your download, if interrupted for any reason (For example; network problems, lost connections, computer shutdowns and so on). You need to start download again.

Internet Download Manager (IDM) increase the download speed up to 5 times, and lets you resume and schedule your downloads. It uses a technology depending on smart download logic accelerator that features intelligent dynamic file segmentation and safe multipart downloading technology to accelerate your downloads.

Compared to the other apps that accelerate download, IDM segments files dynamically during download process. Moreover it reuses available connections without additional connect and login stages.

The program support all browsers. You can use it with any type of proxy and host files.

Homepage:

http://www.internetdownloadmanager.com/

Download:

The installer is available in a free tiial version and retail. The link to the retail will be emailed to you with the license key immediately after purchase

The free trial can be downloaded in the official website, using this link:

http://www.internetdownloadmanager.com/download.html

Purchase:



Many options are available according to suite your needs. You can select one year or lifetime license. You can also select one or more PCs

Visit here to complete your purchase:

https://secure.internetdownloadmanager.com/buy_idm.html

The serial number and all necessary information will be sent to your email immediately after the purchase. You can easily activate and register IDM using your name, email address and license code while connected online.



System Requirements:

The program needs minimum requirements. It can be installed on all windows versions (Windows XP to Windows 10). Both 32 and 64 bit systems are supported. Only 12 MB of free disk space and 512 Mb RAM is required.
The program is available as a free trial version that can be downloaded from the official website and is 5 Mb in size.

Installation:

Insatallation is very easy and doesn't require any skills. Simply double click on the installer file and within a few mouse clicks you will enjoy the best download manager.
The program offers you 30 days of use with full functions. After the free trial is over, you need to have a license to continue using the app. There will be a reminder window to purchase the program

User interface:



IDM has a simple user interface which is user friendly and easy to use. The program shows upper menu bar with 6 tabs (task, file, download, view, help and registration). There is a download toolbar is located below the menu bar and includes all the features you need to manage your downloads. These include Add URL, Resume, Stop, Stop All, Delete, Delete All Completed files from the list, Options, Scheduler, Start Queue, Stop Queue, site grabber and Tell a Friend. They can be in active or disabled state depending on what actions are possible for the current selection of downloads.



The main interface shows the downloads arranged by name, date, size, status and so on. You can rearrange or sort the list using any of these headings according to your wish using a simple click on the on the column header.
You can also rearrange your files or to restore the original default arrangement (by order of addition) is by using the view button and select arrange files from the drop down menu



On the left side of the main program window, there is the categories tree which shows all the download files arranged in categories according to its type, finished and unfinished downlods, queues and grabber projects. The downloaded files will be automatically categorized using a built in feature. You can add more categories if you wish. Simply use rught click menu of the categories to add new one. There is also an option under help menu to see tip of the day with some technical advices for the users





Task Menu:



File menu:



Download menu:



View menu:



Help menu:



The program current version is 6.28 build 17. This version was released on August 5, 2017

The program is in continuous development with many new features added. The new features added in this version includes; Added compatibility with Windows 10 Preview build 16257 and fixed bugs

If you wish to revise all the changes in the previous releases, you can visit the website here:

http://www.internetdownloadmanager.com/news.html

Key Features:

Accelerate downloads by up to 5 times. It will show the download progress and download complete dialogue with “Open with option”

Resume unfinished download from the place where they left off.

Built-in scheduler: connect to the Internet at a set time, download the files you want, disconnect, or shut down your computer when it's done

Easy downloading with one click of any download link, it will catch your download and accelerate it

IDM supports HTTP, FTP, HTTPS and MMS protocols.

Video grabber; IDM lets you easily download any video on the internet. When you play any video you can easily see the IDM download panel which gives you all available formats for downloading the online video. No more need to use any other apps to have your favorite videos on your computer for offline playback

Drag and drop links to IDM, and drag and drop downloaded files out of Internet Download Manager.

Download All feature:

IDM can add all downloads linked to the current page. This useful feature make it easy to download multiple files at the same time

Limit download speed; this is a built in feature which helps you in case you are using connections that use fair access policy (for example limited megabytes limit per hour). You will easily specify the maximum download speed for each file



Website spider and grabber:

IDM downloads all required files that are specified with filters from web sites, for example all pictures from a web site, or subsets of web sites, or complete web sites for offline browsing. You can easily schedule multiple grabber projects to run and stop them at a specified times. In addition, you can run periodically to synchronize changes when available.

Download categories:

IDM has a built-in feature which automatically organize downloads automatically using defined download categories.



Simple installation wizard: No skills needed to complete your installation.

Customizable Interface:

For those who like to change the program look, you can easily change the app look using different skins available on the webite here:
https://www.internetdownloadmanager.com/support/toolbar2.html
This website is also accessible through the option; "look for new toolbar option" (located uder toolbar menu).
Simply download the skin file and save it to the program folder the restart the program. That's all!
The new toolbar look will be available in the toolbar menu (located under view button) and you can select it at any time to enjoy a completely new IDM look.
Customize toolbar and hide categories are other options to help you change the toolbar look and add or remove buttons







Multilingual support:

The program support many languages. You can enjoy using your favorite dowload manager in your own language. Simply visit this site: http://www.internetdownloadmanager.com/language.html
Download your native language and save them to Languages folder located in IDM root folder
Langauges supported include Albanian, Arabic, Azerbaijan, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Farsi, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, and Uzbek languages.



Automatic antivirus check:

This useful feature helps to keep you safe and make your downloads free from viruses and trojans. IDM can automatically run a scanner on download completion, for xample; AdAware, Avast, Spybot, AVG Anti-Virus, McAfee, Norton Internet Security,

Compatible with windows 10 and IE11

Support all popular browsers and applications:

Supports all browsers including IE, Chrome, AOL, MSN, Mozilla, Netscape, Firefox, Avant Browser, and many others. You can add more browsers using the program settings. Advanced browser integration feature lets the program take over downloads by integration with the browser. This feature is unique for IDM only

Supports many types of proxy servers, for example,Microsoft ISA, and FTP proxy servers.

Supports main authentication protocols: Basic, Negotiate, NTLM, and Kerberos: This lets IDM to access many Internet and proxy servers using login name and password.

Autoupdate feature:

Quick update helps to easily check for new versions of the program once per week. Quick updates feature lists all new features added to the latest version and asks a user if he wants to update IDM to the latest version.



Downloaded files:

The program supports all file types and automatically categorize the downloaded files. You can check the properties of the downloaded file in details. You can also see the download location easily

The main program functions that will be discussed in more details includes:

Download Function:



This is the main function with many built in modes. These include; manual and automatic download modes, batch download, download from web page or multimedia site, drag and drop download, import download, clipboard download, command line download and site grabber. All downloads you need are available in one application!

The program is compatible with all known browsers with fully integration using plugins. These plugins are continuously updated. If your favorite browser is not listed, you can easily add it from settings. All you have to do is to open settings from the download menu, click general, and use add browser exe file. That's all!

You can start your download by a simple click on any download link or use right click menu (automatic mode) or add URL (manual) and your file will be downloaded in the highest speed. You select custom location for your file (for example desktop) or use the automatic categorization feature of the app which uses the file type to select its location (for example video, audio, zip and so on)



Other methods available to start your download includes use of clipboard links; when a URL is copied to the clipboard, IDM will automatically check the URL and shows you its dialog to start download. Command line Downloads which lets you start downloads using command line parameters.

Download function allows users to select cutom location for each file, speed limiter to avoid slow internet connection and to exceed use limits, resume downloads (if broken for any cause as internet connection troubles), and download complete dialogue which lets you open the file or its location or choose the program to open with. For example WinRAR id ZIP file







Right context menu for any file in the download list offers you many additional options as open, open with, redownload, resume, remove and many other



Notification area icon:

This is an icon for the program located in the notification area. If you right click it, it will show you many options as purchase, help, speed limiter and many other



File Search:

If you need to find a specific file, you will need a lot of time searching hundreds of files downloaded. IDM supports search function. This is loctaed under download menu in the form of find and find next. This will save your time
and lets you easily find any downloaded file.



Import and export Download:





The download function supports import and export feature to save your download list. You can export your downloaded files in your list. It will be saved on your computer with the extension .ief or ef2. You can restore and download these files later on using import function under task menu. The program will automatically detect the exported files saved by the user and restore it. You can also import and export any downloads in the form of a text file. This will help you to restore all your download after having new computer

Batch download:

Using this built-in tool, you can easily download many files from a specific website. All you have to do is to open task menu and select add batch download then add the URL of your preferred website with asterisk and extension of the files you need to download. For example *.mp3 for sound files. No more need to spend many hours downloading each file separartely. This feature will make your download very easy and save your time



You need to specify the method you want to use to arrange your files either using numbers (for example from 1 to 100) or letters (from a to z) then select number of files and wildcard size, finally click OK. The program will detect the files arranged in a list with names, file size and download URL. Simply, select the files you wish to download and click OK. The files will be automatically added to the program scheduler.

Video grabber :

You can download any online multimedia with no need for multimedia download software. IDM do the job for you in an easy and quick way using the video grabber tool. You can see the download panel above any video you play online. Simply click the panel to see a list of the formats available for download. Select the one you prefer and download as usual. Now you can enjoy offline playback



Drag and Drop:

IDM supports drag and drop feature to start your download easily and quickly. You can download any file by dragging the link to the main window of IDM or the basket available in the file menu (show drop target).

File Host Download:



Download of files uploaded to file hosts is different from direct links. Some file hosts as mediafire, rapidshare and so on requires login information to allow you to download with maximum speed. These login data can be stored in the program options under site login. This lets you enjoy the full speed with a single mouse click of the host file

Site Grabber:

IDM allows you to download complete websites for offline browsing, for example, pictures or audio files . This is done through the predefined set of templates which make it easy to set the required project.
The site grabber can be launched from the download toolbar then you need to follow simple four step wizard that determines the website to be downloaded, the files to be downloaded, name of your new project and location to save it. After creating a project, the grabber starts to explore files and do everything for you.

First step:

Specify the name of the new project, the website to be grabbed and project template. If the website needs authorization, it will be provided here. Advanced options are also available



Second step:

This step lets you decide whether to automatically save the project files into default category or to select a different location. Other options includes overwrite existing files, convert links for offline browsing




Third step:

This step lets you add explorer filters such as whole website exploration or specified number of link levels only, ignore popups windows, explore all sites in the domain



Fourth step:

This step lets you set filters regarding the file types you want to include or exclude. Also it helps you to hide duplicates when found during download process.



Finally, the website will be explored using the set filters till complete. The progress of site grabber can be easily followed with available statistics. The process may need long time according to the website and filters. You will have a list of the files found. You can sort or rearrange files by type, size, name to easily check them. Now, select the files you will save and start download.

Scheduler:



This feature is very important as it will automate all your downloads. You will not need to do effort for downloading all your files. The scheduler will automatically do everything for you. You can launch this tool using the toolbar button or the download menu option. The right click of queue (in category tree) offers you many additional options such as start, stop, edit, delete or create new queue. You can add files to the main queue or synchronization queue or any custom new queue created by you. The synchronization queue differs from the main download one in that it lets IDM to check for any changes available on the server so that the old files will be replaced with new ones

Other options to add files to the queue (schedule) includes use of right context menu in the file download list in the main program area or drag and drop any download links by from the main list to the queue you want.



You have to specify location to save your files, time to start and end of your download, download limits, general or synchronized download and number of concurrent downloads. You can select to shut down the computer after complete download. Finally click start now or at a scheduled time



Program settings (options):

Thiese are located under download menu. There are many options available which render the app one of the most customizable apps. Settings are categorized under general, file types, save to, downloads, connection, proxy, site logins, VPN and sounds

General:

This part includes many options such as program start with windows, supported browsers, advanced integration, clipboard download, customize keys, download panels and context menu



File types:

This part allows users to specify the file types to automatically download and websites to avoid automatic start of the download process. You can add or remove any new files and addresses



Save to:

This sections is concerned with the categories and save locations. You can add a new category if you need



Download:

This part includes settings for start and complete of download dialogue, show queue panel on click of download later or close batch downloads and virus checking tool. You can customize the download progress






Connection:

This option lets you specify your connection type and speed. The maximum connection number is 32.



Proxy:

If you are using a proxy or socks that need specific configuration, you can easily set your proxy, socks or FTP settings using this option




Sites Login:

IDM offers you the option to add host file site and login information needed to enjoy the full speed. The program will automatically save your data for future use. Many of the host files need subscription to allow you to download at the maximum speed



VPN:

Using this option, you can simply configure your dial up and VPN settings so that IDM will be working with no problems.




Sound:

This option allows you to add sound when the download is completed or failed, queue processing started or stopped. Music files of the “Wav” type are the only supported type to be added.




Pros:

Enjoy 5 folds increase in the download speed
Resume broken downloads


Site Grabber
Scheduled download task
Downloads multimedia files
Compatible with all popular browsers
Support many languages
Easy to use, skinny
And many more

Conclusion:

IDM is the best download manager. It includes a lot of features as high download speed, advanced browser integration, resume download, site grabber, video grabber, host file support, scheduler and many more. It has a very friendly user interface, simple installation and easy to use. The program is available at a reasonable price. I recommend it for all internet users. It will help you, save your time and let you get the best experience with your internet connection