Appatic

It is not openly known, but Microsoft got quite a tradition in Download Managers. Just that until now, every single one of them had been for Internal use, Beta Software Testers or Subscribers. That has just changed.

Microsoft Download Manager is a non browser integrated standalone download manager for Windows. At version 1.1 it looks it is optimized to download files that come from Microsoft. It can also download files only from urls starting with http:// . But it is perfectly capable of pausing, resuming files, you can set up the number of consecutive connections it can have (up to 16) and also setup  specific parameters for file url retries in the case of a download error.

It should be stated that Microsoft is only offering this passively and without any info or official statements. So that means it is a Beta state even if not indicated.  That could also mean it is a app being worked on for integration with something else. The most probable guess being Internet Explorer 9, thing that would make a whole lot of sense given how simple the app is and because until now IE has never being released with a integrated download manager of its own. So i do hope that is the case.

The Microsoft Download Manager while being a basic download manager is still a good enough choice to try along with IE8 or if you simply want to keep track of your download independently of your browser. It works for Windows XP, Vista & 7.

Linkage

Microsoft Download Manager               <— Direct Download Link

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