Program to Determine File Name and Download Link?

[meeshu]

Looking for a program that monitors downloads by other programs which shows the file names and their respective download links.

This is primarily for programs that run independently of browsers and which download updates/addons etc.

This monitoring program is wanted to find file names and their download links so that these files can be downloaded manually and independently of host programs (where ever possible).

Thank you.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Well, I had some sort of Download Helper-esque program back in the XP days, because downloading large files from FTP sites in browsers wasn't fully reliable back in the day. Maybe it was called WinGet, or something like that? GetRight, I think that was it. Maybe it's still around?

Edit: Yes, it was called GetRight. You can still get it!

http://getright.com/

It says it's over 14 years old! I believe it. That's practically an eternity in internet-years. Several generations of tech, that's for sure.

 

[meeshu]

Thanks for the comments.

I already have GetRight Pro and I also have Internet Download Manager. Both download managers only monitor the clipboard and browsers, they don't monitor other programs running outside of browsers. So these download managers are not really useful in this case.

Something like Process Monitor, or Process Explorer, or URL Sniffer maybe???

 

[PliotronX]

Get Right is awesome, I also liked FlashGet and FDM. If these don't do what you're looking to do, a swiss army knife approach would be to capture the traffic with wireshark which by default is chatty but you can filter down to HTTP requests.

 

[meeshu]

Thanks for the comments.

On further investigation, I've found some programs that do show download links and associated files such as URL Snooper, Wireshark (I think), and several others. However! These programs all seem to require the use of a "Network Adapter" (to connect to the internet). Although I have a network adapter (as part of the motherboard) I don't connect to the internet using it. I use a dial-up modem to connect to the internet as I'm on a dial-up connection, and these monitoring programs that I've found so far do NOT work with dial-up modems, unfortunately!

So I'm still looking for a monitoring program that works via a dial-up modem and which doesn't require a network adapter.

As far as I'm aware, most if not all download managers such as FlashGet and Free download Manager ONLY monitor browsers and the clipboard; they don't monitor programs running independently of the browsers(?)

So, can anyone please suggest a download link monitoring program that is known to work for programs running outside of browsers and that works with dial-up (modem) connections?

Thank you.

 

[mxnerd]

Download manager can only monitor clipboard contents. If you are running other programs without copy links into clipboard, program has no way to retrieve those info.

It it can, it opens up all sorts security issues and possibility being hacked by other programs. All processes are protected in Windows. You can only retrieve info through API or clipboard.

So, like you said, you probably need a program that can monitor a network adapter and decode the download links, like URL Snooper you mentioned.

Even if you are using dial-up modem, you still have to use MS's built-in virtual dial-up adapter, don't you? I believe that can be monitored. Haven't use dial-up modem for years though.

 

[mxnerd]

Forgot that if you are downloading using https protocol, the packets are encrypted then URL can't be decoded.