Free Download Manager

It's not really open source, and it's closer to malware than what the "team" acknowledges. Not worth it.

The actual app itself is quite good (v3.9.2 anynow, v5 isn't so hot).. but everything else about FDM just smells fishy. For example.. The website is littered with "helpful links", these dodgy spam-like click-traps that take you to their "Software Review Site" make FDM look like just a scheme to attract potential victims. Their "Software Site" has the notoroius "Click Here For Free Scan/TuneUp!" ads and the "Reviews" and software sitelinks look like pay-per-click referral moneyspinners. Together with the fact the app has previously "phoned home", and with the rumours of adware inside, one gets a bit nervous about installing it. The FDM "team", whoever they are (they don't say) claim to be "open source" because the code's trunk is available on SF. In fact their site here at SF is a joke - nothing has been updated, and worst of all the only binaries available are those they choose to release on their website - the SF binaries are long obsolete. Even on the main site, nothing beyond the current builds and a few plugins are available for download. No documentation. Regardless, the core code is good - I just wish the people behind it didn't make FDM look so dodgy. A decent, fully linked website.. proper docos.. and some mention of who is behind it all. that would go a long way.

Installed FDM and found my homepage had been changed. If FDM is prepared to change my homepage without asking then I have no trust that it won't change other things without asking me first. Maybe it's good. But I ain't waiting around to find out. Installed Xtreme Download Manager from sourceforge instead. Tiny file. Working well. Well behaved.

Monetizer installs toolbars on your system. Since it is integrated into your system, you loose all control. Install Monetizer is for software creators who want to make a extra money when users install their program. The program should have at least 50 installs a day. According to a personal experience posted on the Internet, Freedownloader Manager is paid according to the scale below. 100 installs daily = 60 a month 500 installs daily = 300 a month 1000 installs daily = 600 a month 5000 installs daily = 3000 a month (all in dollars) Most of the bundled software are toolbars, They have about seven install packages available. So, you don't even know what these people are tricking you into installing on y our system.

Installed it and Kaspersky Antivirus immediately raised the red flag and quarantined both the FDM.exe and the installation file saying "This process is trying to inject into another process. This is typical of some malicious programs."