Vista + IE7 + Google Toolbar + Akamai download manager = download trouble

So far I have been running VS 2008 Beta from a VPC image.  Since few of my friends told me that they had no problem running this beta version next to the VS 2005 I finally decided that it is ok to download this version and install it to my host OS.

So, I simply go to MS site select the Visual Studio image for download (hefty 3.2 GB), and start the process.  First thing I notice is that the download link installs the Akamai download manager ActiveX control.  This seems to be a good thing, since the download manager opens 4 separate connections, and starts main download using full bandwidth of my DSL connection, transferring at 250 Mb per second.  Even at that speed I am nearly 4 hours away from the completed download.  But that is ok - I choose desktop folder as the destination for the downloaded file.

Four hours later I am in front of my laptop.  Akamai download manager reports download as complete.  Great!  I take a look at the desktop - the file is not there?!  I try to refresh it, open the folder in the windows explorer. There is no file!  OK it must be some weird Vista security permission, or something....  Maybe the file is put in temp folder.  Nope, not there.  OK, I am going to use the "awesome" live search to find this file.  

Twenty minutes later after trying multiple search criterias (searching by date, size, name...), I finally give up.  There must be something wrong with downloading to the desktop.  I am going to try downloading to the "My Documents folder".  Four hours later, same results - no file!  What is going on. 

I finally decide to explore the issue through couple of Google searches.  It appears that few folks have experienced the same problem.  None of them have figured out the real cause, but have noticed that Mozilla downloads the file without problem.  I open up my Mozilla browser, copy the download link into it.  First difference - this time the Akamai download manager is an applet, not an ActiveX control.  Second, and more important difference is that prior to selecting a destination folder, I do get a "Pop-up blocked" message - I change it to allow pop-ups.  The download works fine - the whole file is downloaded to the desktop.