I have found an excellent alternative to GetRight. LeechGet 2002 is freeware.... non ad-supported freeware! I have been using it all night to download tons of stuff including Mandrake 9.0rc1. LeechGet is excellent. I even looks good! Just passing this info on since I have been using FlashGet for a while because it is free. It is also good, but ad supported. Finally I can get that ad crap off my system and not pay a dime!

Of course, you can always get a keygen for GetRight and FlashGet, but that's not fair. I would much rather use something that is meant to be free.

Very nice and seems to have almost everything Getright has....well at least it has everything I ever used in Getright.

Only thing I can see missing so far is a bandwidth throttle which is nice when you only have a 56k dialup.

I like it, it's as good as getright.

Only thing I don't like is how it tries to keep that icon on the top left hand side of the screen, but that's easily fixable.

I have a question. Are these programs mainly for making sure you get the file in the right way, like that it's complete and what not, or are they also meant to speed up downloads? I've been using Download Accelerator, but would love a free alternative to that program.

Now, if anyone can find a free, ad-free alternative to Weatherbug, I'm all ears...or eyes in this case

I use it to speed up downloads by downloading in sections.

okay. and how do you get rid of that really annoying icon in the corner of the screen? I can't find the option....

Right click on it. There is a checkbox for it on that menu (i think). I am not at my home computer right now.

Yup, right click on it and exit the program. Then make sure the program doesn't start each time windows does. (first option in the options screen)

If you want to use it, you can just right click on the link and tell it to download with leechget, much like with DAP.

Are these programs mainly for making sure you get the file in the right way, like that it's complete and what not, or are they also meant to speed up downloads?

Both. And more.

Here's the reasons I like these kinds of programs:

1) Always downloads the file in binary mode, regardless of the server's MIME type setting for that file. This prevents a common kind of corrupted download caused by Netscape Navigator trying to download an executable binary file as an ASCII text file.

2) Can resume an aborted download, even if you lose power half way through the download.

3) Highly tuned download protocols which can sometimes grab the file faster than IE or Netscape could by themselves.

4) Segmented downloading: For popular files coming from impacted servers, can locate mirror copies elsewhere on the internet and download from multiple sites simultaneously. Thus working around the bandwidth limitations of the server, and allowing you to get the files faster (works only if you have a broadband link).

Does anyone know if LeechGet has this last feature? Didn't see it in the screen shots.

can locate mirror copies elsewhere on the internet and download from multiple sites simultaneously

That's what I liked about DAP. It makes it incredibly fast. I think Leechget might be doing this, but not as visibly as DAP did. DAP listed all the servers it was downloading from in the download window.

How do I make Leechget the default downloader? I've basically just installed the program, and not changed any settings. I then tried to download something from Cnet and the IE downloader grabbed it. Is there a way to make Leechget my default without having it open (so I don't have that annoying icon up there?

And why did the programers put that there? if it's freeware and ad free, what's the point of having it there? I don't mind having the program running in the system tray, but this is just annoying.

4) Segmented downloading... Does anyone know if LeechGet has this last feature? Didn't see it in the screen shots.

Actually, I think you did. The picture of the download window shows several bars of different colors, which would seem to be indicating segments. But LeechGet does not call it segmented downloading. The paragraph that goes with the screenshot states "Downloads can be splitted up in up to 99 so-called Tasks. Each Task receives a part of the entire download..." etc.

I haven't had a chance to try it out myself yet. But it looks like it will be able to do everything I might want it to.

When LeechGet is monitoring IE clicks, you get a dialog that will look up alternate servers. None of the files I tried this feature on were found on any other servers, but it looks like you would be able to ctrl+click a bunch of servers. That said, it definitely does segmented downloading off the same server.

I'm having a problem with Leechget.

I told the installer to install this "Evolution" thing that supposedly looks for new software versions. Well this thing loads every time you start Leechget. After a while it starts taking up more and more memory until my system slows to a halt and the program eventually crashes. It doesn't do any major damage, but it's pretty annoying.

I guess the only thing I can do is uninstall and install again without the addon, but I thought I'd let people know.