UPDATE --
When Voyager posted about the DF Manager I thanked him, then got it and started using it, and reported it was working for me too.
I think it d/l directly from a mirror site, or FTP. Popups are never a problem.
The file fails in the middle about 1 out of 5 times (manually was 9 of 10 failures.) The manager tags it "error" and sometimes it resumes, sometimes not, but you can move it in the queue or delete and move on.
However, I also now pass on 60% of posts using depositfiles.