FrostWire 5.3.6

In order to understand what FrostWire can do we have to look at what the software is based on: FrostWire is based on LimeWire, the latter being a P2P file sharing client that works on the Gnutella network and a BitTorrent client, meaning that you can use it to download files off torrent sites. From a visual point of view, FrostWire does not seem to have that much in common with LimeWire, but under the hood they are pretty much the same. In the software engineering world they call this a project fork: a copy of the software code is taken and developed until a different software application emerges.

There is one other very important difference between these two software applications. LimeWire comes in three versions: Basic, Pro and Extended Pro. Out of the three only LimeWire Basic comes free of charge, the others cost you money to use. And the reason why LimeWire Pro and Extended Pro cost you money is because they come with more features than LimeWire Basic – things like optimized search results and turbo-charged downloads for example. The same cannot be said for FrostWire; it comes in just one version and it will not cost you a thing. On top of that, it comes with most of the features you find in LimeWire Pro.

But let’s not turn this into a competition and let’s focus on LimeWire and what it brings to the table. The first thing you will notice is the incredibly low amount of computer resources this free piece of software needs: 256MB of RAM, Java 1.6, a connection to the internet and an operating system (please note these are the recommended system requirements, not the minimum system requirements). Speaking of operating systems, FrostWire comes with support for the lot: Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, including Debian, Red Hat, Fedora and Ubuntu.

After you download and install the software, you will notice that searching for files to download is a very straightforward process. You can thank the search bar with category divisions for that. Can’t figure out what you want to download? There’s a “What’s new” button that when clicked on will display the files that have been exchanged between FrostWire users recently. Perhaps something in there will spark off a download. Perhaps you want to download something directly from one of your friends. With FrostWire you need only type in your friend’s IP address in the direct connect option box and a detailed list of the files you can download from that friend will be displayed.

No matter what file you want to download, the whole process of getting that file off the web and onto your computer is very intuitive. You have to go though a few steps that I’m sure you’ll have no problem with, even if you have never used FrostWire before: perform a simple search, locate a file you want to download and double click it. To make sure that the file you are downloading (download time depends on the speed of your internet connection) FrostWire comes with a built-in media player. With it you can preview audio as well as video files before the download process is complete.

There are some files that you might want to avoid, like Windows Media files, adult and copyright protected content. In this regard FrostWire comes with a content filter which you can set up while configuring the software.

Even though FrostWire comes free of charge and is not add-supported, it does come bundled with the Ask.com toolbar. If you do not want the toolbar to be added to your browser, make sure to opt out when you install FrostWire.

Pros
Comes free of charge
Based on LimeWire Pro
Download directly from a friend
Content filter
Built-in media player
Cross-platform (works with Windows, Mac OS X, Linux)

Cons
Bundled with the Ask.com toolbar

FrostWire has been reviewed by George Norman on 11 Sep 2009. Based on the user interface, features and complexity, Findmysoft has rated FrostWire 5 out of 5 stars, naming it Essential