GetRight 6.3e

Broken connections, unwieldy file sizes, and computer crashes--oh, my! The pitfalls facing downloaders are many and varied, so we welcome a program that solves these problems. GetRight extends the ability of your browser's built-in downloading options, and provides useful features such as download scheduling, file segmenting, and error recovery from broken connections.

Once the easy-to-use application is installed, it springs into action when it detects a download from your browser. Because it minimizes to an icon in your system tray, make sure it's actually running when you begin a download. Resuming an interrupted download is as simple as double-clicking the file from the download history. We noticed no appreciable speed gain with segmented downloading over a broadband connection, but dial-up connections should see an increase.

The latest version offers an integrated BitTorrent client that allows file downloads using both BitTorrent and standard Web-based downloading. There's also a games application built in to the app, an unexpected but not unappreciated add-on. At the time of writing, though, the gaming site could only be accessed from the GetRight home page, and not the built-in link.

There are other download managing apps that have encroached on GetRight's turf, and some of them are free. Still, GetRight gets the green light for all users who regularly download files from the Internet.

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BitTorrent 6.2.0.15918

BitTorrent hadn't seen a major update in about two years, but that was before it bought out uTorrent. Now, adopting its new sibling's interface has completely reinvigorated the original BitTorrent client.

Previously, BT had lacked features that other torrent innovators had spent time testing and investing in. Now, in one fell swoop, BT has access to everything it lacked. You can pick which files in a torrent you want to download, throttle your Internet connection to suit your whims, muck about with the Web UI and, basically, do everything that uTorrent can do.

There's an RSS tracker and search bar, just like in uTorrent, but there's where we encounter one key difference. Where uTorrent's search takes you to the MiniNova torrent site, BitTorrent's goes to BitTorrent.com, a pay-for-most-content site. There's also a menu bar item in the BitTorrent client called Get Stuff, with links to Movies, TV, Music, and Games at the BitTorrent content site.

Without a doubt, BitTorrent has taken drastic steps to reverse course and unsink its sinking ship. Although BT still eats more memory than its new sibling, it's hogging significantly less than before. The install file reflects the new code, shrinking from nearly 6MB for version 5 to less than 1MB for version 6.

BT also comes with a small piece of software called DNA. The BT site calls it protocol for "Delivery Network Acceleration," but beyond a nebulous description, it's hard to tell what exactly it does.

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WinZip 12.1 build 8519

From WinZip Computing :

WinZip is the original and most popular of all Windows ZIP file utilities. Wizard/Classic interfaces accommodate both first-time and experienced users. With WinZip you can quickly and easily compress and decompress files, folders, and entire folder trees to save storage space and reduce e-mail-transmission time, as well as encrypt and decrypt your sensitive documents. Features include tight integration with Windows Explorer, support for most Internet file formats, and one-click zipping and e-mail. WinZip 12 adds new features for JPEG compression, the ability to ZIP files directly from a digital camera, an enhanced thumbnail view, a built-in image viewer, support for the LZMA compression method, customizable password policies, more encyption options, and other new features.

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