Free Download Manager 6 - Recommended settings

byraiden -سبتمبر 25, 2020

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Tutorial on how to recommended settings in Free Download Manager 6.

It will help you achieve best settings to suit your need.

Free Download Manager is free, open-source software distributed under GPL license. If a user is looking for free download manager then FDM is good choice.

FDM Download link : https://www.freedownloadmanager.org/download.htm

System config :

FDM 6.11.0 x64
Windows 10 Pro x64

Free Download Manager Settings

To open FDM Preferences window do the followng:

Open FDM menu and select preferences.

1. Change the download Folder

You should set a download folder where all the files will be downloaded. This will organize the downloads.

Select "Fixed default download folder"
Click the "..." button as shown below

Select the folder in the computer which will be used as default folder.
Click "Open"

2. Integrate FDM extension to web browsers

Integrating the FDM extension to the web browser app is necessary. It will enable IDM to be able to catch the File download links from the web browser.

A. Google chrome web browser integration

Click " Download Google Chrome extension"

Google Chrome web browser will show FDM extension webpage for chrome
Click "Add to Chrome"

When asked for permission by chrome wen browser click "Add extension"

B. Firefox web browser Integration

Click on "Download Firefox extension"

Firefox web browser will show FDM extension webpage
Click "Add to Firefox"

When asked for permission, click "Add"

3. Prohibit Web browsers from downloading a file which has been cancelled to download from FDM

Uncheck the check box labelled Use browser if you cancel download via FDM'

4. Traffic limits

Setting the maximum number of connections for various traffic usage modes

There area three traffic usage modes for FDM : Low, Medium, High

You can do your own custom setting if you understand what you are doing.

Maximum number of connections : Sets the maximum number of connections to servers while downloading a file
Maximum number of connections per server : Sets maximum number of connections to a server with particular IP address
Maximum number of simultaneous downloads : Sets the maximum number of files which will be downloaded simultaneously

It is recommended that you do the settings as sown below.

5. Set Download speed limit

Download speed refers to the maximum global download bandwidth allotted to FDM. Settings a proper download speed limit will stabilize the download speed.

User is allowed to set download speed for both Low and Medium traffic modes. User cannot set the download speed for High traffic mode.

You can select a preset download speed from the download speed limit.

User can also set a custom download speed by selecting the option Custom from the drop down list.

To set the download speed for the Low and medium traffic mode, do the following

Open the drop-down menu for a traffic mode.
Select the desired download speed.

6. Set Upload speed limit

Upload speed refers to the maximum global upload bandwidth allotted to FDM.

Upload speed setting will generally be used by the torrent file for seeding.

You can set upload speed for both Low and Medium Mode

You can select a preset upload speed or you could set your your custom upload speed from the drop-down menu.

You may lower it down if you don't want internet bandwidth to be used for uploading data.

To set the download speed click on drop-down menu and select the desired Upload speed.

7. Upload ratio limit

It is used for seeding the file that through torrent.

Set the upload data limit of file being seeded by you.

The setting is done as percentage of the file size of the file which will be seeded.

It set the ratio in terms of percentage of the size of downloaded file.

Example : If it is set to 10%. Then a file of size 1000 MB will Upload only 10% of it, which is 100 MB.

Click the drop-down menu and select a preset upload ratio limit.

To set custom Upload ratio limit, click on drop-down menu and select "Custom"

Enter the custom Upload ratio limit.
Click on blue tick sign as shown below.

8. Antivirus scanning setting

Here you can do the setting to scan the downloaded file with a antivirus software installed on the computer.

You need to check the antivirus document to know how to do manual setting to scan the downloaded files with that particular antivirus

If Windows defender is installed in the computer then you can select it from the drop down menu as shown below

9. Set FDM as default torrent client

Select Make FDM default torrent client button.

10. Advanced Settings

Select option Remove only from download list in the group box labelled Delete button action.

11. Start downloading without configuration

Set FDM to automatically start downloading without showing Download confirmation dialog box.

Check the checkbox labelled Start downloading without confirmation.

12. Notify me of completed downloads via Notification Center

By default a notification is shown when a FDM completes a file download.

To Disable the showing of Download Notification, do the following:

Uncheck the check box labelled Notify me of completed downloads via Notification Center.

File Download Operation

This will show how a file id downloaded using FDM.

When you click a download link in the web browser this dialog box will open up

Click "Download" to start the download.

The file will be added to the download list

Schedule a file download

When you click the download link, new download window opens up

Here you can choose to Schedule the day and time at which download will occur

To enable the scheduler check the checkbox labeled Scheduler.

Select the days when the you want the file to start downloading by ticking next to it.
Set the Start time when the download will begin.
Set the End tome when the download will Stop.

You can also schedule a file to download by right clicking on it and select "Schedule"

Remove the files from the list

To remove a file from the download list

Right click on the file
Select "Remove from the list"

You can also select multiple files to remove from the list

Delete the Downloaded file

You can delete a file or multiple files from the storage device.

Right Click a file
Select "Delete File"

When asked for confirmation Click "OK"

Download speed Category

Speed mode setting in FDM Preferences. The setting done here decides the download speed, upload speed and number of connection to followed by FDM.
There are three speed modes - Low, Medium, High
By default High is selected

You can select speed mode from drop-down menu as shown below
Select the speed mode to be used by FDM

Export/Import FDM settings file

You can save the FDM settings in a file using Export Settings feature.

You can also restore the FDM settings from the Setting File by using Import settings feature.

1. Exports settings to a file

Select Export/Import -> Export settings

Select a folder where you want to save the Settings file
Click "Export"

2. Import settings File

Select Export/Import -> Import settings

Select the folder and file where the Settings file is kept
Click "Import"

Move Files to different location

Select the files you want to move.
Right Click on it and select "Move to..."

Select the new Folder where you want the files to be moved
Click "Move"

Change the download URL

You can change the URL from where the file will be downloaded.

This may not work all the time.

First search the new URL for a file and copy it in clipboard.
Right click the file and select "Change URL"

Right click on the text box labeled "Enter new URL"
Click "Paste"

FDM File Integrity Check

File Integrity check helps users to check if the downloaded file is exactly same as on the server where the file has been hosted. It can only be done when the file has been downloaded completely.

File integrity check is done through Hash algorithms, Example MD5, SHA1, SHA256

If the website that is hosting the File download provides the hash of that file then you can do the integrity Check.

Check the website if they provide a Hash text for the file.
In this case, for VLC Media player the website does provide SHA1 has text.
Copy the Hash text in the clipboard

Right click on the downloaded file.
Select "File Integrity"

Select SHA-1 hash algorithm from the drop-down menu

Right click on the text box labeled "Compare with"
Click "Paste"

If "Verification OK" is shown then the file integrity of the downloaded file has been verified