Data Becker Web Magnet 1.20b

Looking for what you want on the web is not always as simple as it could be. Search engines don't always throw up exactly what you need and you have to look at all the results online. Web Magnet will automatically scour the web, looking for pictures, videos and sounds related to a given search topic and store the results offline so you can view them at your leisure.

Installation is relatively simple, but before you can use the software you have to do a bit of manual configuration. The software asks you to specify where downloaded files should be stored and which types of file you would like it to look for. For example, you can tell it you want to see AVI video files but not Quicktime movies. However, to tell it what to look for and what to ignore you have to know the file extensions - the bit after the full stop in the file name.

The main program is easy to use. A toolbar sits across the top of the screen to give you access to the main features of the program, while the space below is used to display the windows that match up to the feature you've chosen to use. The most likely starting point is doing a web search.

If you pick this option, you have to type in a keyword to define your search then click on the Start button. It didn't take long before we started getting results, which are displayed in the log window. This displays the name of the web page, which search engine found it, and its URL. Shortly after this thumbnail graphics will begin to appear in new windows, as Web Magnet patiently begins to download them.

The results are hit and miss because what you get depends on what the search engine can find. You can customise the program by adding more search engines, but it's no guarantee of quality. However, if you find the web fails to turn up what you need, you can always turn to the news groups instead as Web Magnet can search these as well.

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