If you’ve ever read or heard about ordinary people being sued for downloading files from torrent or other p2p networks, and worried about your own downloading activities, this program is for you. Typically, agencies that are out to detect people’s downloading activity will actually take part in providing the file for download, then attempt to find out as much information about the computers that connect to them as possible.

How it works:

What PeerBlock does is it taps into publicly available lists that classify IP addresses in order to simply avoid "bad" IP addresses. It utilizes the collective wisdom of communities and sites that classify IP addresses (go here for more on where these lists come from). It works much in the same way as a virus killer program in that it is constantly updating the lists of known "bad" IP addresses, even as more of these come into existence.

What kind of protection to expect:

In keeping with the virus killer analogy above, PeerBlock will not necessarily protect you from the latest unknown threat or bad IP, but it will greatly decrease your chances of being detected. Moreover (and this is where the viruskiller analogy ends), PeerBlock will make you harder to detect compared to others on the network; the PeerBlock documentation cites the so-called "bear principle: "when running away from an angry bear you don’t need to be faster than that bear … you only need to be faster than the guy next to you". The Peerblock site also states that "the only way to be safe with P2P downloading is to not share copyrighted content!".

Ease of Use:

What I really like about PeerBlock is that it is very easy to use; all you need to do is run it and specify what kinds of "lists" you would like to be protected from (P2P, Spyware, Advertising, or Education/Universities) and that’s it. It now runs in the background, preventing your computer from connecting to known bad sources, not just for torrent or p2p networks but for (optionally) for general web usage as well. It will also periodically auto-update the lists that it needs to do its job.

Program options:

You can enable or disable PeerBlock at will. You can also set up your own lists if you are so inclined as well as use PeerBlock to block custom IP ranges that you set up (such as the IP range of entire countries). You can allow or disallow IP filtering for HTTP access as well (i.e. regular browsing).

PeerBlock vs. PeerGuardian:

PeerBlock is based on the code from PeerGuardian (v. PG2 RC1 Test3). I would recommend using PeerBlock because it (a) is under development; (b) does not suffer from the kind of bugs that PeerGuardian had, (c) most importantly, runs on XP, Vista, and Windows 7 without hitch. You cannot run both simultaneously.

The verdict:

Convenient, easy to use, and might just save your bacon. Download it and be safe.

Version Tested: 1.0 r181

Compatibility: Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7.

Go to the program home page to download the latest version (approx 800K).

Although there is probably no one left in the universe that hasn’t figured out how to find and download music on the internet, Songr is a nice program to have for the following reasons (consider this the PROS section):

1. It has a nice, compact interface.
2. The fact that it searches multiple sources, acting as a meta-search engine for audio search engines such as Skreemr and others.
3. It can identify songs based on lyrics. Perfect for those times when you have a section of a song echoing over and over in your head that you don’t have the name of and/or don’t know the artist.
4. It can download songs from YouTube as MP3 audio or as FLV or MPG video. (For this, click on the little blue floppy disk icon next to “search by lyrics”).

The CONS section:

• Reliability: many entries in the list of results turned out to be broken links when I tried to download them. And while eventually I invariably found entries in the list that worked, it would be great if Songr could check for and remove broken links from the list.

The verdict: a nice program; straightforward and does the job, but with room for improvement in terms of reliability. Regardless, Kudos to the developers for this nice little program.

Version Tested: 1.2

Compatibility: Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7. Requires Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5.

Go to the program home page to download the latest version (approx 0.45 megs).

There’s no escaping it: file hosting services like Rapidshare and Megaupload have become a permanent feature of the internet landscape. If you use the internet you will very likely be downloading files from them, and this program can make the process much simpler, easier and faster for you. If you download a lot of files from these services then this program is an absolute must-have. (Note that it will also download videos from many video sharing sites as well).

Here are SEVEN EIGHT really cool things about this program:

1. Completely Automates downloading: Jdownloader works by managing hosting services compulsory “wait times” and circumvents CAPTCHAs (for more than 60 sites) by optical character recognition, without user intervention. This means that downloading, say, 4 files from Rapidshare can be done completely in the background, without requiring you to visit the download pages, wait for time counters to count down, enter Captchas, and spend 10 or 15 minutes doing this four times during the day.
2. Re-connects to defeat compulsory wait times: which is to say it tries to change your IP address such that the file hosting service treats you as a new user every time, and does not force a wait time between downloads. This function is dependent on the kind of connection and router setup you have, and I personally did not test it. If you are curious a list of reconnection scripts (and more info) can be found on this page (scroll down).
3. Supports a wide range of hosting services (and video sharing sites): in fact, way more than you every knew existed (”hundreds” by version 4). If you encounter something that is not a famous service like a Rapidshare or a Megaupload my guess is that Jdownloader will probably support it. A number of video sharing sites are also supported; to download, simply copy the URL of the video and look to see if Jdownloader has captured it. Note that although I could not find a list of supported services; if you go to settings tab / modules / Anticaptcha you will see a list of services which I assume also doubles as the supported sites list.
4. Captures multiple links on a webpage: want to download several links listed on a webpage? Simply highlight and copy all of them into the clipboard, and Jdownloader will recognize and add them to its list. (Contrast this with pasting links into a text file and downloading manually one-by-one).
5. The user interface: completely revamped in the new (0.7) version of this program, the “new” user interface is intuitive and straightforward and a very welcome change from previous versions, which was at times unnecessarily complicated.
6. Firefox integration: through the Flashgot Firefox extension. Jdownloader will provide the option to install this extension during its own installation process.
7. Scheduling downloads: a rather nifty option whereby you can tell the program to, say, start downloading at 2 am in the morning or something like that, when you know no one in your household is using internet bandwidth (as an example).
8. Open architecture: you can add or remove functionality by downloading and installing plugins. Examples include the auto unRAR-ing of downloaded files, “watching” of folders, and other cool stuff.

Notes on installation/uninstallation: unzip and run the .exe to install. Run the same .exe again to launch the app. The installer offers to install a browser plugin called Kikin (some sort of search engine aggregator), but AFTER it installs it tells you its still in closed beta and won’t let you use it. My advice is do not allow Kikin installation (click ’cancel’ when the Kikin screen appears during install). To uninstall Jdownloader, simply delete the Jdownloader folder (see here).

The verdict: a truly impressive piece of software. I would highly recommend this for anyone who does anything more than the very occasional downloading from file hosting services. This program can really save you a lot of time (and energy) and at what it does it is most likely the best in its class.

Version Tested: 7.504

Compatibility: Windows, Mac, Linux. Requires Java Runtime Environment.

Go to the program page to download the latest version (approx 19.3 megs).

If you’ve seen the previous incarnation of this program you’ll be happy to know that this new version is a complete departure from its predecessor, completely re-written in JAVA. It avoids or circumvents all of the problems/issues that afflicted the previous incarnation including false positives reported by some anti-malware programs, restrictions on some (adult) sites, memory issues, and issues with registry entries and drivers that the program installed and left on the system (in truth, by the time the last version of Tubemaster plus was released all of these were actually already remedied, but I wanted to make sure to mention that these issues were a thing of the past).

Improvements also include a better looking user interface (the built-in browser of the predecessor is done away with). In fact the only feature of TM+ that I liked that TM++ does not have is portability. Here are more notes on this program:

• How it works: once you launch TM++ (it will reside in the system tray), use your browser to navigate to the video or audio that you want to download. TM++ will display a notification and start downloading your media as soon as it starts playing in the browser. You will need to keep the browser window open for the duration of the download in order for TM++ to download your media properly.
• Media conversion: on-the-fly. Includes a couple dozen conversion presets, my favorite of which is the quick MP3 extraction.
• Audio/video search: the search functions are very impressive. For video search, you can specify which site you want to search from a rather expansive list of sites.
• Virus/malware free: a clean bill of health from Virustotal.

The verdict: I’ve seen the development trajectory of this program and I think that developer deserves a lot of credit for taking this software in the right direction and creating what is undoubtedly an excellent product. But what makes this product noteworthy compared to others in its category is its ability to download from almost any site, including ant-leech encrypted media. It can be independently launched when needed and does not install itself as an extension in your browser.

Although TM++ is no longer portable (like TM+ was), this is understandable given that it relies on a number of other apps/technologies (including JAVA, which it will install if absent). Overall I highly recommend this.

Version tested: 1.0 beta

Compatibility: WinAll. Requries JAVA. Will soon be available on Linux and Mac.

Go to the program page to download the latest version (approx 180K).

[Editor’s note: this review was written by Freewaregenius contributor Gaurav Paul with subsequent editing by the webmaster].

We all hail Firefox for it’s customizability, the many great add-ons that it supports, and for greasemonkey! For those who use Internet Explorer and may have been disappointed by the lack of good add-ons, IE7Pro promises (and delivers) on many items that are on your wish list and provides a much enriched web experience, all within a single, fast install. Some notes on this program below:

• The user interface: right-click the IE7Pro icon in the statusbar in order to access the various functions (many of these also support keyboard shortcuts as well).
• Mix and match what you like: if you’re concerned about adding too many features and options if you install IE7pro you need not fear. One of the coolest features about IE7Pro is that it has a plugin-architecture which enables you to activate the features that you want and disable those you don’t.

IE7Pro offers a great many features, so I will not list them all. Instead the ones I will mention here are (a) features that I absolutely love, and (b) features that I really, really, like but that should have been better implemented (and that I am wishing they would revisit).

Eleven Twelve IE7Pro features that I really like:

1. IEscripts: similar to Greasemonkey for Firefox.You can add user scripts to tweak how you view certain website(s) or to provide certain functions. Many scripts come with their own installers such as the GMail CSS skin,YouTube downloader, Myspace Notifier and many others. What this means to you is that you can create your own scripts or, if you’re not a coder, you can visit this site for many useful downloadible user scripts.
2. Tab History: maintains a list of your history of visited tabs that you can can use to quickly re-access any recently visited site (you can optionally add this to IE’s context menu).
3. Form filler: this is a full-fledged auto-password and form completion alternative to Keepass or Alpass. It is also local, in case you are uncomfortable using an online password manager such as Lastpass (which is actually my current favorite). It takes a bit of manual setting up at first as it does not auto-detect forms, but generally it works well. Also does not pre-fill forms but can be prompted to do so using a hotkey. It is the sheer simplicity and straightforward-ness of this one that I find attractive.
4. Clear privacy data: using a single click. Works well. An alternative to, say, Click&Clean or Cachepal. Cleans all areas that contain information on your internet activity such as your browsing history, cookies, forms, etc. Also included is an “AutoClear upon browser exit” option which can be very useful.
5. Proxy switcher: simple and works very well.
6. Show password on mouseover: a reader-created script that simply displays the password underneath the asterisks. This can be a lifesaver, and is the first one of its kind out of many that I tried that actually worked for me.
7. Mini Download Manager: allows you to pause/resume downloads, and to keep a record of your downloads and the URLs whence they originated. If you are not interested in a full-fledged download manager/accelerator such as Orbit Downloader or Flashget (which can be somewhat intrusive and may introduce P2P features that some people might want to avoid).
8. SpellChecker: quickly correct your typos within browser-based forms. Uses the open source Aspell. Works well.
9. Session Manager: allows you to save the currently opened configuration of sites/tabs as a session to be retrieved and resumed at a future point (similar to say, IESessions, but I kind of prefer this one).
10. Resize IE window: to 800×600, 1024×768, 1280×1084, or user-defined. Perfect for webmasters, developers, and designers who want to quickly see what their sites look like under different resolution settings (1024×768 being the most widespread).
11. FasterIE: with this enabled you can expect some speed optimizations to Internet Explorer. I couldn’t measure this myself, but am putting this feature on the list anyway.
12. AdBlocker & FlashBlocker: similar to AdBlock Plus for Firefox. Blocks ads on all sites, but you can manually add filters to it to enable them on certain sites if you want to.

Other available functions: a good number of these; URL Aliases, Findbar (enhanced on-page text search), capture screenshot of whole site, navigate by mouse gestures, custom page autoscroll , auto-refresh at set interval(s), scroll by grab and drag, a (fairly good) user created module for downloading from video sharing sites, etc. etc.

Wish list: Three IE7Pro features that can be better implemented

• Crash Recovery: automatically opens a tab with a list of the tabs/sites that were open when IE last crashed, similar to Firefox. In theory a terrific function; in practice “crash recovery” seems to produce a list of the last visited URLs whether there was a crash or not (and sometimes you do not want this on a shared computer). After a while I found this annoying and had to switch it off. I also found myself wishing I could access these recovered URLs somewhere private rather than first thing I see when I launch IE.
• Online bookmark sync: a bookmarking service that connects to the IE7Pro developer’s website and stores your favorites remotely; useful for syncing your bookmarks across multiple computers.(You have to register an online account first, obviously). My wish list for this one would be the release of a Firefox add-on that enables sharing bookmarks across browsers as well.
• Easy Homepage: optionally replaces your home page with a thumbnail grid of your favorite URLs. Sounded good to me, except the thumbnails were inexplicably lo-res and did not maintain their aspect ratio when the IE window was resized (which looked jarring). Also “Easy Homepage” seemed to be rather slow when launched, which I didn’t like.

The verdict: I am a Firefox user and will admit that I usually do not use IE unless I have to. One of the main reasons for this is that I find it very hard to have great add-ons like the ones I use in Firefox. But this IE add-on delivers a much improved IE experience and has completely changed the way I perceive IE.

The only criticism I have of this software are (a) some of the modules could have been better implemented (as mentioned above), and (b) documentation for individual modules is at times sparse: you might enable a plugin or module and find yourself doing a lot of fiddling around and experimenting to figure out how to get it to work. Most of the tasks being performed are simple translations from various Firefox add-ons and functions, and they’re very good/useful to have. The addition of user scripts make it highly customizable.

If you use IE this app promises to increase your productivity and enhance your experience; a must have install for IE users. Recommended!

Version Tested: 2.4.5

Compatibility: this software was tested on IE7 but the developer’s website confirms compatibility with both IE6 and IE8 RC1.

Go to the program page to download the latest version (approx 2.36 megs).

If you are familiar with the music sharing sites mentioned above you’re probably thinking that Freezer is very good news indeed. This program was apparently written to prove a point; to quote their site “[it] was built as a proof-of-concept to demonstrate that whatever effort is made to prevent songs downloading, those sites are still very unsecure concerning the way musics are diffused”. It continues …”the [proof of concept]will probably be extended to more sites, as it is based upon an inherent flaw they all have in their streaming scheme.” More notes on this program:

• How to use: you need to (1) start the program and keep it open, (2) change your browser proxy to the one specified by the program (more on this here and below), and (3) to surf over to any of the supported sites and launch a song. A “save file” dialog will appear whenever a song is about to be played, allowing you to save (or not). More info on how to use here.
• Portable: no installation. Just unzip and run.
• Managing proxies: if changing your browser proxy manually doesn’t seem very practical, you might want to take a look at IE proxy changer or Advanced Proxy Manager (for Internet Explorer) or QuickProxy for Firefox.
• Supported sites: Imeem, Deezer, and Jiva.fm are documented; however, the instructions in the program dialog itself read “surf on your favorite HD radio site … the program will do the rest”. Not sure which other sites Freezer will work with, but I did try it with Last.FM and Pandora and it did NOT work; moreover it does not work with non-encrypted sites that do not use anti-leeching protection such as MixTurtle, Songza, etc (I guess since the program wanted top prove a point, there was no point to prove there ).

Wish list:

• Flashing the save song dialog on screen while the song played, or adding it to a list that can be downloaded afterwards. Currently, you will not hear the song until you have selected whether or not to save it to your hard drive, which can be a problem if you are unsure whether you want to download or not.
• Adding sites such as Last.Fm and Pandora
• Incorporating some sort of automated proxy management in the program itself.

The verdict: a very nice little program; I especially like that it is a small 70K download that can be unzipped and run without installation. Switching proxies can be a bit annoying to deal with unless you are using a proxy manager that will make proxy switching quick and easy. If you want more downloading options on more sites you might want to take a look at Orbit Downloader, which will download from these sties mentioned above plus many others.

Version Tested: 1.4

Compatibility: Windows XP, Vista.

Go to the program page to download the latest version (approx 70K).

I am not sure why, but I’ve been always looking for a good alternative to Azureus or µTorrent, admittedly the two most powerful Torrent clients. I have been using the Azureus-based BitTyrant (more on that one here), but have also had my eye out for some time on the open-source Deluge. And although I have previously tried multiple releases of the Windows version, they have always been somewhat unreliable and buggy; until this one: from the purely subjective experience of a single user I can report that this release (v.0.5.8.9) seems to be a very good, solid torrent client.

It is worth mentioning that as of the 0.5 release, Deluge was completely re-written from the earlier code and supports more features and better stability. Here are more notes on this program:

• The user experience: the interesting thing about this program is that it is very simple and “clean” looking, perfect for regular users who do not want to deal with a lot of complexity.
• Features: as of the 0.5 release Deluge supports encryption, peer exchange, binary prefix and UPnP, and a web UI that works on Firefox (didn’t try it – sorry). Other features include global as well as individual torrent upload/download limits, moving incomplete torrents on the local drive, enabling safe “blocklists” (Safepeer, Peerguadian, Emule), peer exchange, local peer discovery, private torrents, password protection, RSS, minimizing to tray, and other features which I either do not care to mention or do not understand.
• Technical comparison: for a technical features comparison with Azureus and µTorrent, click the thumbnail to the right (table adapted from Wikipedia’s torrent comparison article).
• Plugin architecture: makes this program (a) adaptable and easy to work with, and (b) quite powerful. Note that many of the features mentioned above might require activating the relevant plugins. At the time of this writing, all Deluge plugins were included in the installation package.
• Memory consumption: a mere 15 megs in memory. This is important given that Torrent clients typically reside in the background doing their thing while you work on other applications.
• Installation: you will be asked to determine a number of options on first use (download/upload limits, ports to scan, etc.) If you do no know what these are go with the default value.

The verdict: I really like this program; I like that its simple yet powerful and does not consume a lot of resources, and that I can recommend it both to the torrent novice as well as seasoned torrent users as a legitimate alternative to Azureus or µTorrent.

Version Tested: 0.5.8.9

Compatibility: Windows XP, Vista. MacOS X, Linux.

Go to the program page to download the latest version (approx 9.1 megs).

This browser extension aims to condense what would typically involve 4 different steps into a single, simple right-click command. While normally you would need to (1) click to download an audio file, (2) select the location to save the file, (3) start ITunes, and (4) manually add the file to the Itunes Library, with Tunestor you would simply right-click on the mp3 download link in the browser and select “download directly to Itunes”.

What I like about this is the convenience of knowing that I can download something then find it in the music library when I open Itunes, ready to be synched with my Iphone.

Here are some notes on this program:

• Tunestor downloads files to the “My Music” directory by default. While this is probably a good choice, it would be better if it enabled you to change the default download directory in case the user prefers another location. Come to think of it, having the ability to optionally introduce a “save as” dialog to choose the save folder would also be good (albeit it would add a step).
• Tunestor is affiliated with TuneStory, a brand new free “social music discovery & download” site. On install it will ask you whether to enable sharing of your download links on TuneStory. It promises to be both secure and anonymous, but if you would rather this app not telegraph this information make sure to uncheck this in the install process. (I accepted to see what happens and sure enough my track that I downloaded to test this program with showed up on the Tunestory website, available for download in 2 clicks).
• Aside from the “download directly to Itunes” right click entry, Tunestor also installs a “Tunestory.com Hit List” context menu command. I’m not sure what that does exactly and wasn’t able to find info on it on the site; I thought it might send download link info to Tunestor but it did not seem to do that when I clicked it.

Version tested: 1.5

Compatibility: Windows 98/2000/Me/XP/2003 (no info on Vista); MS Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher / Firefox 1.5 or higher; iTunes 4.7 or higher.

Go to the Tunestor home page to download. .

Rating

Version tested: 0.19

Shup is a small memory resident app that can upload files to Stashbox. It can also instantly upload images (or other types of files) to several online storage services straight from Windows’ right-click context menu (Flickr, Imageshack, Photobucket, Stashbox, Waffle Images , or even a custom file hosting service). The tool also performs several other functions as well such as on-the-fly image encryption, screenshot capture and upload, and image editing.

Imagine being able to right click on an image and instantly send it to your online image storage account. Now imagine that you have several online accounts, and that this same right click context menu can access all of them, giving you the ability to select which online account to fire-away and upload to with the press of a button. That’s exactly what Shup can do and it is the reason that I was attracted to it (see screenshot). Here are some notes on this program:

• Stashbox.org: Shup is created by the people from Stashbox, a free file uploading service, which is why Stashbox figures so prominently in the program’s machinations. Note that you can upload any type of file to Stashbox.com using Shup’s context menu, but that files on Stashbox are not guaranteed to stick around forever. Not sure about max file size allowed either.
• The search box: Shup’s main interface consists of a searchable list of all the files which it uploaded. The searchbox is useful for finding the entry that you need, at which point you can either find (or open) either the URL of the uploaded image or the file path where it resides locally. Oddly, though, the main interface displays your uploaded images not by the image names but the serial number it gave each image on uploading.
• Supported online services: Flickr, Imageshack, Photobucket, Stashbox, and Waffle Images. If yours is not on the list, however, you can create and save a new profile that is added to the right click menu (this seems like a fairly easy process, but I have not done it myself).
• Shup.com URL: every file you upload gets its owl shup.com URL. If uploading to another service (e.g Flickr and not Shup.com) this URL simply redirects users to your file on the file hosting service (in this case, Flickr).
• Desktop capture: this will take a screenshot of your screen and immediately upload it to Stashbox (no, it does not seem like you can upload somewhere else).
• Uploading non-image files: you can upload any type of files as appropriate to the online hosting service you are using. It still has some kinks to iron out: I tried to upload a 220 meg file (it didn’t protest, so I assumed that I wasn’t exceeding any upload limit). After waiting for some time for the file to upload and the progress bar to get all the way to the end, the upload wouldn’t finish/complete, and I had to cancel it. Uploading a 5 meg mp3 worked fine, though.
• Stashbox secure: is an option whereby you can encrypt your files on-the-fly from the context menu and upload it to either Stashbox or Reaper.
• The Shup Image editor: is a fairly straightforward image editor. Nothing to write home about, really. Surprisingly, it does not support text annotation.
• Tagging: of photos is possible from within the image editor (which is a rather strange place for it as I would think tagging from the main interface makes more sense).
• The Ignite Network (beta): you can get to this from the tools menu. What it is, it seems, is a project whereby users can chat ’paint’ or alter an image online collaboratively (?). A nice idea, perhaps, but I personally doubt it will ever amount to much (There’s also a gallery section where the artistic image creations are shared).
• Memory use: 5.5 megs (not a lot for this type of app IMHO).

The verdict: this is an interesting application, which is why I decided to post if on Freewaregenius, but still seems like its does not quite know what it wants to be. I can recommend it if (a) you use multiple image hosting services that Shup supports, and would like the convenience of uploading from the context menu, (b) if you need to set up a right-click image/file upload for a custom hosting service (in which case you will really appreciate Shup), and (c) if you like being able to upload files to a file hosting service (Stashbox) for quick file sharing. If you only use a single image sharing service, though, you can probably find a smaller program for direct uploading that might serve you better.

Compatibility: Windows 2000, XP, Vista.

Go to the download page to get the latest version (approx 620K). Also visit the Shup home page.

Rating

Version tested: 1.10.0.2

Moyea FLV Downloader is a free program that can download FLV videos from most file sharing sites. It will monitor your browser for any FLV videos and will automatically capture their URLs for downloading.

It seems like I’m posting a program to download FLV videos from video sharing sites every other day that. If I had a dollar for every time this happened, by now I would have myself a nice stash of … $5 or $6 .

In any case this one is rather cool. Once launched it will monitor your browser for any played FLV’s (which it terms “recording”) and, if found, will enter the video into a list and make it available for downloading. It will also place a download button that will appear on the FLV video itself that can be used for downloading (see second screenshot) – very much like the Grab++ module in Orbit Downloader.

Some notes on this program:

• Will automatically detect videos; no need to copy and paste URLs. Note that it detects URLS and downloads the videos rather than scanning the cache like Ycpod).
• Allows for pausing/resuming downloads, as well as multi-thread downloading/download acceleration.
• Works for most FLV video sharing sites such as YouTube, Ifilm, Dailymotion, Metacafe, etc. as well as any other site or blog that might feature an FLV video.
• Preview panel for downloaded videos; also features a linked full fledged FLV player.
• Display video information such as frame rate, codec, bit rate, etc.

Wish list:

• Support for SWF downloading. In fact, the on-screen download button will display on SWF files as they are played in the browser, but will error out when you attempt to download.

Differences between paid and free versions: there is no paid version. However, there is the option to install a module or extension that can convert downloaded files to AVI or MPG formats that you can install, but you will have to pay for it. Note: if you need a freeware program that can convert FLV to other formats try MediaCoder.

The verdict: I like this; it has a very streamlined and well designed feeling to it and provides a good user experience. Despite that its very similar to Orbit/Grab++ there is a certain attractiveness to this program and to having a standalone video downloader, especially if you do not care to install a full fledged download manager like Orbit.

Compatibility: Support IE, Firefox, Maxthon, Opera. Windows NT4.0/+ SP6/2000/XP/Vista.

Go to the program page to get the latest version (approx 1.11 megs).

Rating

Version tested: beta release 8

Civil Netizen is a P2P file sharing platform that can be used to share large files up to 4 Gigabytes in size privately with friends. It does not host your file or upload it on your server, but allows you to share files straight from your hard drive using your and your friends’ bandwidth for upload and download.

Want to share large files with your friends? While there are dozens of free file sharing/hosting websites that have sprung up all over the place, very few of those allow for the uploading of really large files (e.g. 700 megs+). Civil Netizen, on the other hand, offers a very nice maximum file size of 4 gigs.

How it works: download the Civil Netizen local client from the website, then use it to upload your file. Upon completion you will be prompted to download a “receipt”, which is a file that contains a code that your friends/recipients that will need to be able to download. Any recipient(s) have to download the Civil Netizen client and use the receipt (or code) you provide them in order to download (you can email it to them, IM it, or use whatever means you like). You have to have Civil Netizen running on your internet-connected machine to have file transfer enabled.

Here’s what I like about this app:

• Pause/Resume: Local client provides ability to pause/resume downloads (which, you might imagine, is simply a necessity for large gigabyte-sized files).
• Firewalls: Will automatically circumvent restrictive routers/firewalls, which be a problem in some situations such as work settings. Although some situations may be so restrictive as to prevent Civil Netizen for function, I can say that for me personally my work setting is usually a headache but Civil Netizen worked instantly and without intervention around my work firewall, even as it gave me a warning message that “for this beta release, pickup and send may not work reliably for you”.
• Encrypted transfers: all transfers is, to quote “secured end-to-end between senders and recipients using 128-bit AES encryption”.
• Ads free: unlike, say, Pando, which does the same thing.
• Interface: Nice client interface, drag and drop.
• Crorss platform: Windows, Macs, and Linux versions available.

How this app could be even better:

• Creates a parcel on the hard drive that is a duplicate file: for example, if you share a 700 meg file, this program will create another 700 meg “parcel” file in ”C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\Netizen\Shared Parcels\”. It would have been so much better if the parcel file somehow referred to the original rather than needlessly taking up valuable space on the hard drive (especially if the file is large).
• Parcel expiration: a parcel, once setup, will expire after 356 days (I think) have lapsed. And although it is possible to renew it I am not sure why it is designed to expire at all given that the file is hosted locally on users machines. This is quite a needless variable thrown into the mix if you ask me.

I tried this app on a 700 megs movie file and both myself and my recipient were very happy with the download and upload performance (although I might add that we both had really good connections). Aside from the generous 4 gig maximum file size, there are 2 reasons why I really like it (a) no need to mess with firewalls and routers in most cases, and (b) encrypted transfers, meaning you can share whatever you like without worry.

Compatibility: Windows (2000/XP), Linux, Mac.

Go to the program home page to get the latest version (approx 4.2 megs for the Windows version).

BitTyrant: this one is a torrent client based on Azureus. Dubbed a “strategic BitTorrent Client that improves performance”, BitTyrant promises an average of 70% faster downloads based on testing on “more than 100 real BitTorrent swarms”, and in some instances has achieved a threefold increase in download speeds. It does this by being picky over which peers to interact with; it gives more of your finite uploading capacity to those users provide more bandwidth. Note that BitTyrant does not change how much data is uploaded, just which
users receive the data. I’ve been testing it for a while now and while I’m certainly happy with its performance, its far from clear whether/how much its performance is better than my previous client (Azureus).

You might have sensed a Darwinian “survival of the fittest” aspect to BitTyrant that threatens to leave users with low bandwidth in the dust, which is something to think about when using this program. The makers of BitTyrant content that it is merely fair (”if a user is downloading at 30 Kbps, they should upload at 30 Kbps”), and that by rewarding more efficient users the entire community achieves faster downloads.

BitTyrant was developed as a University research project. Its developers have written a research paper the subject of maximizing performance and conserving upload contribution, and its effects on the community of users that is downloadable here: pdf.

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BitLet: this is a web-based Torrent client that can download a Torrent file for you if you provide it with the Torrent URL. The obvious benefits of doing this are:

• If you are using a computer that doesn’t have a Torrent client installed
• You can point Torrent-challenged friends who can never figure out how to download torrents to this web service and it just may be the solution to their rare Torrent-downloading needs
• You can use it to download torrents in places (work, school) where p2p and/or Torrent clients are blocked.

Bitlet requires that your browsers has the JAVA VM plugin installed.

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ShareControl Classic: this program checks a download directory for a file or file type and, once found, immediately moves it to another directory. Although I haven’t actually tested this I can think of two uses for this program:

• Let’s say you are downloading something you shouldn’t (say the latest Hollywood blockbuster) and want to limit your participation in downloading/uploading it to the smallest window of time possible, you can use ShareControl to monitor the download directory, and once your .AVI file fully materializes ShareControl can immediately move it into another, safe directory.
• If you are concerned that whatever you are downloading might contain malware, and do not want to actively share/propagate it until you have a chance to check it out, you can use ShareControl to move it for you until such a time as you can get it checked.

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I2P: is an “anonymous network layer” that allows anonymous data transfers over the Internet. There are a number of Torrent client options that work with I2P to provide anonymous Torrent filesharing; I2P itself comes with I2PSnark included, while other options include I2PRufus, and Azureus with the I2P plugin installed. For instructions on how to set up anonymous Torrent clients check out these GotRoof and Ghacks articles.

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Tribler: I mentioned this one in my recent Free video resources article, but will quickly mention it again. Tribler will search YouTube, Liveleak, and the torrent network for video files and will act as a recommendation engine for available video files that it thinks you might like based on your viewing habits.

Rating

Version tested: 1.5.7, Grab++ beta 3

Orbit Downloader is a download manager and accelerator that can download files from any remote server via HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, RTSP, MMS and Metalink protocols. It will detect and download flash files (including FLV video files) from any site, including YouTube. Used with its Grab++ module, it can download streaming media of any kind, including MP3s from sites such as Pandora, Myspace, Imeem, or Hypemachine, etc.

Here is a quick summary of what this program can do for you:

• Accelerate download speeds: Speed increases will vary, depending on the source(s) from which you are downloading, your internet registry settings, and the program settings.
• Pause and resume downloads: this feature can be a godsend when you are downloading a large file or downloading from an unreliable source (or both).
• Detects and downloads flash video: simply mousing over a flash video or flash file (FLV or SWF) will display a small download button for instant video downloads. Really cool, but the button can be a bit of a nuisance if you don’t want to use it (although you can dismiss it fairly easily)
• Detects and downloads streaming media: the Grab++ module will scan for anything that is being played in your browser, whether it is an audio, video, or flash, and autodetect the download link (only caveat: Grab++ has to be run before the media file is played). This is (a) unbelievably cool, and (b) reason enough for me to switch from Flashget, hitherto my favorite downloader, to Orbit Downloader. Will download WMV and RM streaming video.
• Can download from file upload sites such as Rapidshare: you will have to manually enter the security code that these sites requrire, but Orbit Downloader will automatically detect and download the URL. (Services mentioned in the documentation: Rapdishare, Megaupload, Yousendit, and SendSpace).
• Download scheduling: if you have a lot of files to download, you can use Orbit Downloader to grab all the URLs and download them at an appropriate time. I’ve never personally used this but I can imagine it can be useful if you have dialup or a slow connection.

More info on this program:

• "Light and resource friendly", according to the official website, with a footprint of less than 3 megs of memory. The Grab++ module adds another 11 megs though, but I suppose it can be only launched when needed.
• The Flashget connection: Orbit looks like Flashget and copies a number of elements, including the optional clipboard and browser monitoring and optional drop zone. Thankfully, it doesn’t foray into Torrent downloading, as Flashget did (a good thing since these programs in general cannot hold a candle to some of the powerful Torrent programs out there such as uTorrent, Azureus, and others).

The Verdict: I love this program. It came out of nowhere to become my download manager of choice. I will also say that the Grab++ module is a must. Highly recommended

Compatibility: Windows 9x / ME / NT / 2000 / XP / 2003 / Vista

Go to the download page to get the latest version (approx 1.72 megs). Download Grab++ module (approx 832K). Also visit the program home page.

Rating

Version tested: 1.05

Ashampoo Clipfinder searches and downloads videos from multiple video portals including YouTube, Sevenload, MySpace, Metacafe, VideoU, MyVideo, and Clip Fish.

Another day, another YouTube downloader. Except this one can download videos from other video portals as well. It is built using a plugin architecture which makes it easy to add more video websites, and the makers promise to to support more video portals going forward. Here are some notes on this program:

• Search all portals simultaneously or choose a particular one that you’re interested in. Displays thumbnails for video search results; other info includes length, "assesment" (a small bar that rates the video for relevance), and name.
• Search results for each portal can be viewed individually in a separate page.
• View videos from within Clipfinder or using an external media player.
• If you have a URL from any of the supported portals you can download by pasting into Clipfinder.
• Flag favorites into your own favorites page. Your favorites be videos that you’ve downloaded or online. You can flag videos that you may have previously downloaded on your hard drive as favorites as well.
• Downloads into FLV format; no conversion to other formats supported.
• You can re-arrange the order of the different portals supported and maximize/minimize
• Skins: 2 available by default. Not holding my breath for many others to be made available for some reason.
• This program is registerware: you have to supply a valid email address in order to receive your free key (and be added to Ashampoo’s newsletter mailing list, or you can use Mailexpire).

This program came out of nowhere to become my number one choice for Youtube/FLV downloading software (with VLC now supporting the FLV format I no longer feel the need for on-the-fly conversion to other formats). It is well designed and implemented and I recommend it.

Compatibility: Windows 2000, XP, Vista.

Go to the download page to get the latest version (approx 2.16 megs). Also visit the program home page.

Version tested: 2.17.01 beta

URL Snooper can identify URLs that are hidden behind javascript or activex scripts. It can be used to identify the URLs for streaming video and audio files so they can be downloaded locally.

URL Snooper is a so-called packing sniffing program. You need to tell it to start ’sniffing’ the network before you launch the browser page that contains the multimedia files you want to download. Here’s what you need to know about it:

• URL Snooper filters by multimedia sniffed URLs by default . If you’re looking for non-media URLs you can set it to ’show all’.
• Can filter by keyword (or keywords). This is useful if you know something about the URL you’re trying to identify. For example, by filtering a specific domain name, you might increase your chances of honing in on the URL you want (assuming that the URL is from that domain name).
• Allows user to set favorite URLs for quick access to these.
• Allows user to define external application(s) that URL Snooper can default for streaming media downloads for quick access through the context menu.

This is a very powerful program that works really well. Note that Finding the URL you need will always invariably involve a bit of luck and some guesswork. Moreover, once you do find the URL you are after, you will in most cases need an external application that can download these. This can range from a download manager such as Flashget or RJL’s ’save any file’ service to software that can record streaming media, such as SDP downloader. (Try Flashget first; works best in my experience).

If you’re looking for or need this sort of thing, this program is a godsend. Note that this is registerware (you have to enter a valid email to get your free registration code).

Compatibility: Windows 9x/2k/XP/VISTA.

Go to the program home page to get the latest version. Also check out the flash tutorial.

Version tested: 1.0.0

ExoSee is a decentralized, community-based filesharing program that allows for both public file sharing with the community and private file sharing with specific members only. It also supports its own XOC protocol that allows users to post links on the web for direct downloading.

This program will allow you to select up to four ExoSee “communities” to participate in at any one time. These communities typically have a theme, such as music, ebooks, or general filesharing.The ExoSee protocol allows you to both share a specific folder/folders with the members of your selected communities, as well as download any files that these users are sharing. I spent time inside some of these, browsing what people had on offer. It was mildly interesting but not much more; the value of these communities really depends on what the members are sharing, and whether or not ExoSee will ever achieve the “critical mass” that makes networks like Torrent or Gnutella successful remains to be seen.

If I had to I would guess that ExoSee communities will never take off in any significant way. If I am looking for a file I am a hundred times more likely to look for it (and find it) through Torrent or Gnutella P2P. Which is not to say that ExoSee isn’t potentially a great product; however, it is private sharing that I find way more exciting than the communities.

Private sharing: Picture this; your’re working on a project with a team of 4 people that is spread over 3 continents. You would like to share a number of large files that are constantly updated. Instead of uploading to online storage services like Divshare, or emailing files using services such as Pando, you could use ExoSee to privately share specific folders with all members. You also get the benefit of not having any limits on your file sizes, which is something that many filesharing services impose.

ExoSee works really well with excellent download speeds (compared to, say, something like Purplenova, which is frustratingly slow in my experience). The technology seems very robust and the client is pretty slick; try it and see if you like it.

Compatibility: WinAll.

Go to the download pageto download the latest version (Note that you have to create an account using a real email address). The program home page.

Version tested: 3.2.2.206

BitSpirit is a powerful and easy to use BitTorrent client that offers advanced features and is highly customizable.

What is Bittorent, you ask?: BitTorrent is an open-source file distribution protocol designed to distribute large amounts of data using decentralized, peer-to-peer (P2P) resources that bypass the need for costly bandwidth and server resources. I recently read that torrent traffic-estimates on the internet as a whole range between 18% of all broadband traffic to 35% of all traffic on the internet. Simply put, there is massive number of files on the torrent network (both legal and illegal) that are available for download.

BitSpirit is a solid freeware BitTorrent client that manages to be simultaneously laden with features and very low on resource utilization. BitSpirit Features include multiple simultaneous downloads, disk caching, High-speed downloads (with speed control), scheduled downloading, IE integration, instant messaging support, and fast job resumes. Other features include HTTP/SOCKS4/5 proxy support and UPnP portmapping.

There are a number of freeware Torrent clients out there, most notably uTorrent and Azureus. Of these three my favorite is BitSpirit (and is the one I use), even if it is not necessarily the one with the most features. Click here for a comparison table for Azureus, BitSpirit, and uTorrent.

For me, BitSpirit simply has the better look-and-feel of the three; I really don’t care for a Torrent client that offers command-line-interface or web remote control support. BitSpirit provides (a) a very powerful torrent client, and (b) nice design, without intimidating complexity.

Compatibility: Windows 95, 98, 2000, XP.

Go to the program home page to download the latest version.

Vixy is a website that provides 3 services; it can download YouTube and other embedded FLV videos straight into a number of different video formats, including Ipod MP4, and it can Generate video RSS feeds or video Podcasts using either a YouTube URL or keyword search.

I’ve been looking for a good solution for how to download YouTube videos into Ipod MP4 video for some time, and this is certainly it. I’ve found some software that does this, but the quality of the MP4 video was rather poor. I am happy to report that Vixy’s video conversions are simply excellent.

Note that Vixy allows download into a number of formats. In addition to Ipod MP4, it supports DivX encoded AVI, 3GP for Mobile, and Mac MOV format. Or if you are interested in only downloading the audio track into MP3 it can do that as well. I somehow expect that the list of supported formats will continue to grow.

Vixy is also an excellent resource for creating video RSS feeds. I used it to create a feed by keyword search and it did a great job. The RSS feed will update automatically whenever new videos are posted that are related to your search term. 

This service is really cool, really fast, and, if you have an Ipod and are interested in YouTube videos, it is simply a gift.

Go to the Vixy home page.

Version tested:  0.9.3.0

Description:  Pando is a file-sharing platform that enables users to easily share large files over the internet. It connects sender to recipient by sending a tiny file from the former to the latter over email or IM.

Let’s say you would like to send a 100 meg video file to a friend. Emailing such a file is out of the question, since its too big and will clog most email inboxes. With Pando, however, you can get the file sent as follows:

• Sender and recipient both download and install Pando
• Sender uploads file to the Pando servers, provides email address of recipient
• Recipient receives tiny (4k) attachement by email (or IM or even an RSS feed)
• Once downloaded, recipient can click the pando attachement, which will proceed to download the file through the Pando software at a high download speed (my test download was >120k).

Pando also provides an option where it can be a vehicle to publish large media files on a website; it will provide you with the code to embed in your site that will connect to the files on their servers. They also provide free content (free videos) that you can download, although I can’t see the usefulness of this in a world of Youtube and Google Video.

This is not your typical P2P client; it’s is a really practical program that provides a really needed service, and does what it does really well.

Note: Pando seems to be Adware. Having said that, however, I will also add that the ads, mostly advertising Pando itself or downloadable content, really do not interfere with the user experience. 

Go to download page for latest version. The program home page.
 

Vdownloader is a free program that will download videos from YouTube, Google Video and Grinvi and save them in either .avi or .mpg format.

Rating: 5

Version tested:  0.2

I am continually amazed with the success of both YouTube and Google Video, if only because it seems you can find absolutely any video that you care to search for. Who is uploading these videos anyway?

There are a number of web services that have sprung up that provide downloading functionality from YouTube and Google Video, such as Video Downloader and Keepvid. The only problem with these, however, is that the downloaded videos are in .flv format, requiring you to install and use an .flv player to watch them. 

This is why this program is so cool. It allows you to (a) download online videos by pasting in their links, (b) lets you determine the size in pixels of the output file, as well as the audio bitrate, and (c) allows you to choose either .avi or .mpg as the output format.

I have tested this program for both YouTube and Google Video and it works beautifully and efficiently.

Go to download page for latest version. The Programmer’s home page (a blog in Spanish).