Orbit Downloader 4.1.0.4

Orbit Downloader Editor's Review

Orbit is a very nice download manager that has evolved a lot over a short period of time. With a simple yet powerful interface that reminds of FlashGet or uTorrent, Orbit can not only handle your downloads so you can pause and resume them at will, but it also offers acceleration, splitting them into parts for faster grabbing, scheduling, and grabbing hidden links off many pages.

The Grab++ sniffer module monitors every link available on a page, and with it you are able to get any hidden file you were unable to download otherwise, things like embedded flash videos or mp4.

Orbit also integrates with every major web browser on the market, offering a convenient GetIt toolbar button. GetIt can capture any media that can't be intercepted by the download manager, by literally recording its content while it is playing.

Other powerful options include searching for mirrors of your file through Orbit servers or via p2p to either speed up your download or resolve a file you badly need downloading but isn't available anymore.

The newest addition to the software is however the Software Updater feature. Orbit regularly checks for all your installed software versions, and offers possible update links for any out of date software. Updates also have a voting system implemented, so you know which update is more relevant or not.

Unfortunately, having worked with our own Soft32 Updater, I can tell you that file versioning on Windows is a mess. There are several places to look for the file version, and software developers each do numbering as they see fit. As a result, Orbit Software Updater produced many inaccurate results, and thus is not the most reliable way to get updates for your PC software at the moment.

Pluses: Clean interface. Powerful tools. Does what it's supposed to do.

Drawbacks / flaws:

In conclusion: Orbit Downloader is one of the most complete download managers available to date. It offers many tools and options and you will surely be able to download any file on the interent.