EasyMule

Editors' ReviewDownload.com staffDecember 3, 2009EasyMule is a free, open-source, peer-to-peer file-sharing client. It's built upon, and enhances, the original eMule P2P network, which was conceived in 2002 as the eMule Project in response to dissatisfaction with the prototype eDonkey network. The eMule Project added a graphical user interface and other improvements that made sharing large files over the Internet much easier and more reliable for the geek-challenged users among us. In much the same way, EasyMule builds on the success of the eMule client with an enhanced graphical interface, faster downloads using fewer system resources, disk buffering for safety, and, according to the developer's Web site, "more humane new features," which sure sounds good, even it's fractured English translated from Chinese.The new high-contrast interface certainly is colorful and attractive in the sense that it catches the eye easily, though some may find it distracting. EasyMule is easy to use, compared to eMule and other basic P2P clients. The only gripe we've noted is that you have to manually refresh the queue, which might be an advantage to some users, and it's still a bit buggy in newer editions of Windows, which is certainly not unusual as Windows 7 gradually replaces Vista and XP.EasyMule is free to use, and it's certified for Windows 98, 2000, and XP. We tested it in Vista, and it worked well enough, though it does leave files behind when you uninstall it; not unusual for file-sharing software since you don't want it to remove your downloads too.