Internet Programs / Utilities

Mozilla FireFox

Free download from Mozilla.org

FireFox is the latest browser from Mozilla. It tends to be more secure, faster and more feature-rich than Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0.

It has tabbed browsing, a built-in Google search bar, a download manager, has a variety of plug-ins and is skinnable.

I have switched to FireFox almost exclusively. However, there are some sites out there that require Internet Explorer exclusively.

Google Search Bar

Free download from Google

Google is probably the search engine of choice for most people. There is a search bar that can be downloaded and integrated with Internet Explorer.

Although FireFox has a built-in Google search, there is also a separate search bar for FireFox that can be downloaded and integrated with FireFox. (This is a different download than the one that isfor Internet Explorer.

Fresh Download

Free download from Fresh Devices

Fresh Download is a free download manager from Fresh Devices.

Download managers are much better than the download function in Internet Explorer because they allow you to stop and restart downloads or recover and continue downloads that were interrupted because of dropped connection. This can be especially helpful if you have a slower or unreliable connection to the internet or if the file you are downloading is very large. With the built-in download function in IE, if the download fails for any reason, you have to start the whole download over again.

There are many download managers available, but this is definitely one of the best - because it is free and because it contains no spyware or advertisements (which can slow down download significantly.

It also has a window for monitoring your actual download speeds and estimates how long your download will take.

You do have to register the software, but this is free and only takes a few minutes.

I have used Fresh Download for several years now and would be lost without it.

DU Meter

$19.95 download (30-day free trial from Hagel Technologies

DU Meter is a handy utility for monitoring your network and internet connection download and upload (hence “DU) speeds. This is especially useful if you think that you are having problems with your Internet Service Provider (ISP) or your connections speeds are not what you think they should be (or what you are paying for).

Once installed, it sits in the System Tray and you can bring it up to give both numerical and graphical network / internet traffic data. It also has a stopwatch function that allows you to see the amount you have downloaded and uploaded - which can be helpful if you are not using Fresh Download as a file download manager.