COMPUTER REPAIR

Free FTP Software

Another way to communicate in the internet, apart from the popular HTTP for your webpages is FTP, or file transfer protocol, which allows people to upload or download files to and from ftp servers or any website that supports the protocol. It's enough to pay a monthly subscription fee for using internet broadband and not get charged for ftp services which are offered free by just about all ISPs. To avail of this service, you need an FTP client software where you can just drag and drop the files from your Windows Explorer to get it uploaded online.

Two excellent FTP client specimens come to mind: the WinSCP open source SFTP and FTP client software and the FileZilla client and server FTP software, both of which can be downloaded free of charge online.

Features of the FileZilla FTP Software

FileZilla has been around for some time and the new 2011 features include automatic FTP negotiation over TLS. It certainly had its share of problems that has been addressed with bug fixes, patches and upgrades. Most bugs have been corrected including memory leaks in the directory cache, an improved text wrapping facility and file resizing issues with manual transfers, to mention some. This is the product of its excellent user forum where the user community successfully identifies common problems that lead to their fixes.

Features of the WinSCP Software

As a free open source FTP client software, WinSCP provides Secure FTP and Secure Shell FTP in addition to regular FTP between remote FTP server and a local client PC. Apart from the added security features which also includes support for legacy SCP protocols, it offers the same basic file management function that enjoys a simple graphical user interface. It also integrates well with the Windows OS which included the IE browser for seamless drag & drop functionality. It supports SFTP and SCP legacy file transfer protocols over SSH-1 and SSH-2, batch file scripting, command line operation, directory synchronization, an integrated text editor as well as putty authentication and public key authentication. You can also configure it for portable operation using a configuration file instead of a registry file which makes it operate only in the PC where it is installed.

Free FTP Software Summary

Either FTP client software will work for basic FTP service. Needless to say, WinSCP carries the edge for its security features and seamless integration with Windows. Both are distributed following the GNU licensing and any of the two a must for people who remotely transfer files like web administrators or home-bound office workers. You can check out either to know which suits you best.