Options Dialog

In Options dialog you may edit all IDM settings. Dialog has seven tabs: General, Connection, Downloads, Proxy, Site logins, Dial-Up, Sounds.

General tab

General tab can be used to change IDM System integration options: automatic startup, integration options into browsers, URL clipboard monitoring and Log files related options. Log files should be sent to developers for problem resolutions, troubleshooting, application diagnosis and bug fixing. In this dialog you can also change file types that will be taken over from a browser and downloaded by IDM. IDM integrates into Internet Explorer, Opera, Mozilla and Netscape and many other popular browsers by default.

You can disable IDM to download from specified sites. If you don't want IDM to take over all downloads from a particular site, you may add it to the list not to start downloading automatically. You may use asterisk to match any number of characters. For example *.tonec.com will match ftp.tonec.com, www.tonec.com, www.games.tonec.com, and etc. If you find any problems with advanced browser integration, you may turn it off and use basic browser integration.

If you need to integrate IDM into a new browser, or any application that use HTTP and FTP download protocols, please check  "Detect New Applications" box. Then when you run this application, and try to download a file that has a file type from IDM list of automatically started downloads, IDM will take over the download from this application and add the application to the list of browsers.

Keys button let you select different keyboard keys to force or prevent downloading with IDM. When you press on the Keys button, "Using special keys" dialog will appear. You may select a combination of one or more keys suitable for your web browser.

Connection tab

In connection tab you must select the speed of your Internet connection. That is necessary for the optimal use of your bandwidth. Try to avoid setting "Max Connection Number" to values greater than four. Large number of connections (file segments) can deteriorate file transfer performance and may result in higher resource usage on the server you are downloading from. This may lead to some limits or other protective measures from local system administrators. On the other side, larger number of connections can increase the speed very significantly if you have a cable modem or a highly utilized (shared) Internet connection.

You can set individual numbers of connections (numbers of threads to download) for the servers in Exceptions table. You may need it for the servers that limit the number of connections from the same client. This is also useful for ftp servers that limit the number of connections to 1 or 2.

If you want to set download quotas on the usage of your Internet connection, you should set IDM Download Limits. It's useful for links that have some kind of fair access policy (like Direcway, Direct PC, Hughes, etc.). Let's say you set 40MB/hour or not more than 150MB every 4 hours, and IDM will download the maximum it can, and then resume automatically at a later time. This way you can download large files at the maximum possible speed.

Downloads tab

Save To defines the default "save to" directory for a selected category. You can also change this directory by picking Properties item in the right click menu of a selected category in the main IDM window. Downloaded file will be saved to the default directory of an appropriate category. But you can change the directory to save the file before downloading in Download File Info dialog. If "Remember last save path" box is checked and you have changed the directory in Download File Info dialog, then the default "save to" directory will change for all subsequent downloads in this category.

In Dialogs group box you can control how IDM dialogs are displayed. Select "Don't show" item in Download progress list box, if you don't want to see "Download Progress" dialog at all. If you don't like to see "Download Progress" dialog appearing in front of all other windows, select "Show minimized". You can disable "Download Complete" dialog using "Show download complete dialog" box.

Internet Download Manager also supports the silent mode when all clicked files are automatically saved to the default directory. If you don't want to see start, progress and download complete dialogs, you may disable them. Just uncheck "Show start download dialog", "Show download complete dialog" and select "Don't show" item in Download progress list box.

If you would like to run antiviral software on download completion, you should type or browse the complete path to the executable file (see picture). If IDM knows about necessary parameters for a given executable file name, it will set them automatically. Otherwise you will have to set them manually in "Command line parameters" according to antiviral software documentation. If no parameters are set, IDM will execute antiviral software appending the complete path to a downloaded file.

Temporary Directory defines the path where all temporary files should be stored. You may need to change this directory only if default location doesn't have enough free disc space.

Proxy tab

Proxy/Firewall tab can be used to make settings for your proxy servers. Find button can be used to copy proxy settings from Internet Explorer or Netscape Communicator. "Use FTP in PASV" option means that passive mode of FTP protocol will be used. You should turn this option on of you are behind a firewall or a proxy server. You can also specify login information if your proxy server demands authorization.

You may type Internet addresses where IDM won't use proxy servers. You may use asterisk to match any number of characters. For example *.tonec.com will match ftp.tonec.com,  www.tonec.com,  www.games.tonec.com,  and etc.

Site Logins tab

Site Logins tab (available only in registered version) is used for making a list of login information for the sites that demand authorization. You can add different login information for different directories of the same web site. Click on New button to add new URL and Username/Password information.

Dial Up tab

If standard Windows Dial-Up service is used, IDM can edit phone book records for your connections. In list box you can select a connection to use with IDM. If your computer is connected to the Internet, IDM shows this connection by default. Otherwise IDM shows the last used connection. If you run IDM for the first time, IDM selects first record from your phone book.

After selecting connection, you can change username and password. You can save username and password in phone book by clicking on Apply button. Check Save Password box if you don't want to enter password every time you start IDM. You can also set the number of redials (0 - endlessly) and time interval between them. Click on OK button to save changes or on Cancel to discard them.

Sounds tab

IDM can play different sounds for different download events. On this tab you can select sound files and set events.

Tip: You can use standard Windows sounds stored in windows/media folder to play on events. To set a sound, select an event, click on Browse button, find a file to play and then check the event in the checkbox. You can test selected sound by using Play button.