As an Internet user, downloading a file from one of the innumerable file-sharing websites like Rapidshare, Megaupload etc is quite unavoidable given their convenience & resulting popularity. From personal experience, I'd say that I am more likely to find files I am looking for on one such file host rather than, say, the Bit Torrent network.
However, if you are a non-paying user, then downloading files from such a site can be a very inconvenient & frustrating experience - CAPTCHA, multiple mouse clicks, countdown timers, limit on number & size of files downloaded ityadi. Limitations put in place to encourage [rather, force] you to become a paid user, after which all such restrictions are removed. With every one having their own preferred file host & thus sharing them on a different site from the other, becoming a paid downloader on each of these sites may not be a very VFM idea [understatement].
In the last couple of days I've had to download large number of files from such file-sharing websites. Being a non-paying user, the prospect of going thorough the whole cycle each time I had to download a file [93 files in all] had to be avoided.
FreeRapid is a useful download manager that does just that. All you have to do is add the URL of the file in Free Rapid and specify where you wish to save the file and FreeRapid will do the rest for you. No more mouse clicks or countdown timers to deal with - gives a convenient & hassle-free download experience. Best of all it is a Freeware.
The developers state that it can download from more than 150 such file-hosting websites. I've tried downloading from a couple of sites, including YouTube and was able to download with ease & without issues. It also claims to be able to resolve some types of CAPTCHAS. If it fails to do so, you shall be prompted to do it manually after which download begins
Gripe: Free Rapid can't seem to prevent the computer from going into standby if the computer is not being used for anything else & left unattended - currently using Windows 7 Ultimate Edition. Its a big problem if the file-sharing site does not support download resuming - downloading will re-start from 0% no matter what. I had to run some other program alongside to prevent standby. Also the option to shutdown the computer after download was completed seems not to be working.
Small gripes aside, I'd say FreeRapid is a must-have tool to download from the the online file-hosts as a free user with ease and convenience.
While looking for a suitable software, I also came across some other such freeware download mangers that are said to do just the same - Mipony, MDownloader & Skipscreen [Firefox add-on].
Haven't felt the need to try them out yet, but a quick Google tells me that they are just as easy & effective.
Godspeed
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