Firefox users have basically two options to schedule downloads: They can make use of a download manager that intercepts download requests. This only works if the download manager has a scheduling option.

The second option are extensions that will execute downloads on schedule, and Download Scheduler is one of them

The Download Scheduler add-on for Firefox is a lightweight basic add-on. It does not come with a lot of bells and whistles, which is what some users may prefer and others criticize.

You can use the add-on to set a time period in which downloads are enabled, and a period in which they will be added to a download queue that gets executed once the download period begins.

For that you need to open the options of the extension. Firefox 4 users enter about:addons in the Firefox address bar and then on the Options button next to Download Scheduler. Firefox 3 users click on Tools > Add-Ons first and then on Options once the installed add-ons are displayed.

I see two main applications for Download Scheduler. First for users who need the bandwidth during work hours and second users whose ISP is limiting the bandwidth during certain times of the day.

Both user groups can configure the download scheduler to start downloads at a specific time of each day to avoid those limitations or restrictions.

It should be clear that the extension is not for everyone. Users who need more flexibility will have their problems with the extension as the scheduler is just not flexible enough. It is for instance not possible to configure different downloading periods for weekdays and weekends.

Users who need more customization options should take a closer look at third party solutions like Orbit Download Manager or Free Download Manager for the Windows operating system.

Download Scheduler is available for all Firefox versions from 3.5 on. It can be directly installed at the official Mozilla Firefox add-on repository.

Firefox Download View is an alternative for the Windows operating system. The free portable software lists all recent Firefox downloads after launch in its interface. The main advantage of using the software is that it offers better accessibility and processing options.

Each download is listed with its file name, website address that it was downloaded from, the full path on the local drive where it was saved to, the referrer if available, mime type of the file, file size, download duration and average download speed.

Especially a look at the average download speed could provide valuable information about the speed of the Internet connection over time. The average download speed is calculated from the start and end time of the download and the size of the file.

The utility is compatible with both Firefox 3 and Firefox 4, earlier versions of the web browser are not supported.

Firefox Download View offers additional options besides the download reporting. It is possible to open the url the file was downloaded from, or the folder on the local drive. Entries can furthermore be copied to the clipboard or exported into text, csv, HTML or XML files.

Users who also use the HashMyFiles utility from Nirsoft can copy and paste the list into the tool to calculate hashes for each individual download.

Firefox Download View can be downloaded from the official Nirsoft website. The portable software is compatible with all versions of Windows from Windows 2000 to Windows 7.

The Firefox add-on Save File To changes this by offering options to configure multiple user-defined folders where files can be saved to comfortably. It can be used to configure folders for web page, link, image and file downloads separately.

The add-on adds options to each file type by default to display the recently used folders as well as the computer desktop. New folders are added easily with a click on Add in the add-on options. It is also possible to edit or remove existing entries from the menu.

These options are then displayed on a right-click in the Firefox web browser. The contents may be different based on the user configuration. It is for instance possible to display a menu for image downloads, and a different one for general file downloads.

Additional preferences are available under the Main tab. It is possible to edit the number of recent folders that the add-on remembers, clear the recent folder listing automatically when Firefox closes or to always open the save file dialog window.

Another benefit of the add-on is that the standard file browser is bypassed if the add-on is used to save files in the web browser.

Save File To is a handy Firefox add-on for downloaders who like to store their files and downloads in different folders based on their type. The add-on can be installed directly at the Mozilla Firefox add-on repository.

Great add-on, but unfortunately only compatible with Firefox 4, or so I thought. The latest version of the add-on is only compatible with Firefox 4, previous editions of the add-on on the other hand are also compatible with Firefox 3.

Previous versions of add-ons can be accessed on a separate page. To go there scroll down to the Release Notes heading on the main page, and click the View All Versions link at the lower left of the screen.

All versions of the add-on that have been uploaded to the Mozilla server are listed on that page. For this particular add-on, version 1.5 is listed to be compatible with all Firefox 3 versions up to Firefox 3.6x which makes it compatible with the latest official release of Firefox, Firefox 3.6.10.

The version seems to offer the same functionality. It contains both the download folder button in the download manager, and a new icon that users can add to a Firefox toolbar to open the download folder.

To add the new icon, Firefox users need to right-click a blank space on a toolbar and select Customize from the context menu. They then need to locate the Open Download Folder icon and drag it to the toolbar to add it in that location permanently. A click on the icon opens the download folder automatically, in Windows in Windows Explorer.

The Open Download Folder button in the Firefox download manager is located in the lower left half of the window. A click on it will open the default download location as well.

Remember to take a look at the previous add-on releases whenever you encounter an add-on that appears to be not compatible with your version of Firefox.

The Firefox add-on is available for download at the official Mozilla Firefox add-on repository.

Firefox could not save exe files to folders on the operating system. The files would be created normally but with 0 Kilobyte. Firefox itself would cancel the downloads in the download manager right after they had been added to it.

Michael then tried to download executables with Chrome which worked out fine. He then knew that the issue was related to Firefox and discovered ways to resolve the issue directly in Firefox, at least for pre- and post Firefox 3.6 versions.

In Firefox 3.5 and 3.7 you need to enter “about:config” (no quotes) in the address bar and click through the warning about voiding the warranty.

• In Firefox 3.5.x the new option is called browser.download.manager.skipWinSecurityPolicyChecks and it should be set to True.
• In Firefox 3.7.x the new option is called browser.download.manager.scanWhenDone and it should be set to False.

browser.download.manager.skipWinSecurityPolicyChecks

Starting with Firefox 3, the Windows security settings for downloading applications and other potentially unsafe files from the Internet are honored on files downloaded by the Download Manager. This allows, for instance, system administrators to block executable files from being downloaded by Firefox. This preference allows Firefox to ignore those OS-wide security checks.

Starting with Firefox 3.6, this preference is no longer used. (source)

browser.download.manager.scanWhenDone

In Firefox 3, if a Windows user has an antivirus program installed, it is launched to scan files when they finish downloading. During testing of the feature, concerns about delays and double-scanning files surfaced. As a result, this preference—controlling whether the virus scan is automatically triggered—was created.

Starting in Firefox 3.7 (3.7a3pre nightly builds since 2010-03-06) this preference also controls whether or not the Windows security policy checks are applied for downloading and launching executable files. (source)

This basically means that it is possible to resolve the issue in all versions of Firefox except the 3.6x branch. Firefox 3.6 users running Windows XP are affected by this if the Internet Zone of Internet Explorer is set to high. Their options are to download executable files with another web browser, switch to a different version of Firefox or customize the settings in Internet Explorer so that executables can be downloaded.

Download Panel is a Firefox add-on that displays additional information about each download during the downloads and afterwards. The add-on displays the full path to the file directly in the download manager next to the referrer (the site the download was initiated on), the size of the download in bytes and the directory it was saved to.

It can furthermore add the start and end time of the download which includes information about the date the download was started. The referrer and directory link are clickable in the downloads window. The first link will open the website the download was started from in a new tab while the second will open the folder in Windows Explorer.

The add-on might be useful for users who keep the downloads in the Downloads history. Most of the additional information that are displayed are accessible through other means which are usually more complicated (e.g. right-clicking on the download link and selecting to go to the download page versus left-clicking on the displayed download link). Download Panel (via How To Geek) is available at the Mozilla Firefox website.

Between 5 and 100 themes can be displayed on each page. Each Firefox theme is represented by a fairly large thumbnail, its ratings and name. The website provides several options to filter results either by one of the ten categories or by Date, Name, Downloads and Rating.

A click on a theme will load the theme’s page on the Firefox website that contains additional information about the theme like a description, user comments, support links and of course the download link.

The new interface is definitely an improvement over the old one making it much easier to get a quick overview of up to a hundred themes per page.