FlashGot was an add-on for

Firefox Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements current ...

that allowed interoperability between the Firefox browser and external

download manager A download manager is a software tool that manages the downloading of files from the Internet, which may be built: into a Web browser A web browser is application software for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a par ...

s. It is no longer compatible with later versions of Firefox. It is not itself a download manager but is designed to allow the Firefox interface to be extended to connect to the selected external download manager. This avoided launching the download manager as an independent application and cutting and pasting the across the links of the files that need to be downloaded. Forked browsers like

Pale Moon Pale Moon is an open-source web browser with an emphasis on customization; its motto is "Your browser, Your way". There are official releases for Microsoft Windows and Linux, as well as contributed builds for various platforms. Pale Moon origi ...

and

Waterfox Waterfox is an open-source web browser that is forked from Firefox and developed by System1. There are official Waterfox releases for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Divisions Waterfox Waterfox shares core features and technologies like the Gecko b ...

are also supported.

Software

A download manager is an app specialized in downloading files from the Internet faster and in a more organized manner. However, not all these apps integrate with Mozilla Firefox. The FlashGot add-in resolves this situation by integrating the download managers into Firefox allowing interoperability. , FlashGot recognizes and supports 51 different external download managers. When a user chooses to download one or more files, FlashGot offers to send them to the detected download manager. Additionally, FlashGot can detect video embedded in web pages and send their download links to download managers. It supports downloading from the popular

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

service. It also contain powerful extended media download functions. Mozilla broke compatibility with Flashgot (and many other add-ons) in version 56, so it works only on older Mozilla versions. FlashGot supports

metalink Metalink is an extensible metadata file format that describes one or more computer files available for download. It specifies files appropriate for the user's language and operating system; facilitates file verification and recovery from da ...

s for sending

mirror A mirror or looking glass is an object that reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror will show an image of whatever is in front of it, when focused through the lens of the eye or a camera. Mirrors reverse the direction of the im ...

and

checksum A checksum is a small-sized block of data derived from another block of digital data for the purpose of detecting errors that may have been introduced during its transmission or storage. By themselves, checksums are often used to verify data ...

information to supported download managers for faster and more reliable downloads. Version 1.2.1.13 included an experimental "Search Refinements for downloadable files and media" feature based on Surf Canyon technology. This functionality, which submitted search keywords to Surf Canyon for processing, was easy to opt out of with one click but enabled by default, prompting criticism equating the feature to

adware Adware, often called advertising-supported software by its developers, is software that generates revenue for its developer by automatically generating online advertisements in the user interface of the software or on a screen presented to the ...

and

spyware Spyware (a portmanteau for spying software) is software with malicious behaviour that aims to gather information about a person or organization and send it to another entity in a way that harms the user—for example, by violating their priva ...

, even though no user data was reused, shared or stored. The feature was disabled in version 1.2.1.14 and removed in version 1.2.1.15. The last version of FlashGot was released in December 2016 and is not compatible with

Firefox 57 Firefox was created by Dave Hyatt and Blake Ross as an experimental branch of the Mozilla browser, first released as Firefox 1.0 on November 9, 2004. Starting with version 5.0, a rapid release cycle was put into effect, resulting in a new ...

or later versions. FlashGot is

free software Free software or libre software is computer software distributed under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, and distribute it and any adapted versions. Free software is a matter of liberty, no ...

, as it is released under the

GPLv2 The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a series of widely used free software licenses that guarantee end users the four freedoms to run, study, share, and modify the software. The license was the first copyleft for general us ...

open source license.

Reception

In March 2006, ''

PC World ''PC World'' (stylized as PCWorld) is a global computer magazine published monthly by IDG. Since 2013, it has been an online only publication. It offers advice on various aspects of PCs and related items, the Internet, and other personal tech ...

'' included FlashGot in its list of "101 Fabulous Freebies" and regards it as "indispensable". It was ranked as 16th most popular Firefox plugin in ''

Computer Bild ''Computer Bild'' is a German fortnightly computer magazine published by Axel Springer SE Axel Springer SE () is a German digital and popular periodical publishing house which is the largest in Europe, with numerous multimedia news brands, s ...

''. FlashGot was reviewed by

download.com CNET Download (originally Download.com) is an Internet download directory website launched in 1996 as a part of CNET. Initially it resided on the domain ''download.com'', and then ''download.com.com'' for a while, and is now ''download.cnet.com'' ...

TechAdvisor ''Tech Advisor'', previously known as ''PC Advisor'', is a consumer tech website and digital magazine published by Foundry, a subsidiary of IDG Inc, which also produces '' Macworld, PCWorld'' and ''TechHive.'' IDG Inc was acquired by Blackstone in ...

Softpedia Softpedia is a software and tech news website based in Romania. It indexes, reviews and hosts various downloadable software and reports news on technology and science topics. Website Softpedia hosts reviews written by its staff—each review in ...

, TomsGuide.com and

Softonic Softonic.com is a web portal based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was founded in June 1997 and is owned by Softonic International. History Softonic started in 1996 as a file-oriented download service called Shareware Intercom, at Intercom ...

Ports

Grabit

Grabit is a

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

of FlashGot for

References

External links