If you want to create homepages on the World Wide Web, or if you want to download or transfer large files over the internet, you will sooner or later have to learn how to use the File Transfer Protocol (FTP). This is the most widely used method of transferring files on the internet. On a TCP/IP connection, you would have to download and use an FTP client for this. One of the most popular and powerful programs for this is FTP Explorer - available at http://www.ftpx.com/
This is patterned after the Windows Explorer, thus making the learing curve minimal. It has various powerful features which you would usually have to pay for - but this program is free for personal and educational use. Some of these features are:
* Download or upload files to one or more servers while browsing and selecting files to transfer on another. FTP Explorer handles all file transfer requests in the background, so you don't have to wait while files copy to continue browsing the current server. You can even connect to a different server, and the program will automatically log off of the original server once the requested transfer has completed.
* If you can't connect, FTP Explorer will automatically retry if the connection attempt fails. You can configure the number of times it should try to connect, and the time delay between connection attempts.
* Support for resuming interrupted file transfers. FTP Explorer attempts to resume a file transfer if it detects a file with the same name in the current download directory.(Note: not all ftp servers support this option.)
* FTP Explorer can automatically download and display the proper description of each file with the file that it describes.
* The Transfer Manager feature allows you to ascertain the details of download or upload requests at a glance.
* Create file or directory FTP shortcuts on your desktop to launch FTP Explorer and automatically connect to your most commonly visited FTP sites.
* Command Queue enables background completion of each command, so you don't have to wait on directory listings.
* Each connection is cached in memory, so moving back one or more directory takes a fraction of the time that is necessary with most FTP programs. It also has an option to cache entire sites so that you may peruse the site off-line, then automatically connect when a download or upload us initiated.
* Full Drag and Drop support. Simply drag one or more files or complete directory structures
-- onto the FTP Explorer's file view area to transfer them to the location of the server that is currently connected.
Please note that FTP Explorer is only available for Windows 95 and NT 4.0. (It will run on Windows NT 3.51, but a few incompatibilities have been found.)
Try it and let me know what you think. I can be reached at [email protected] for comments.