i use smart ftp its a great program and its way faster than windows internet explore here is a description of this shareware program this list contains most of the features half of witch arent found on internet explorer so i suggest to all of you upgrade a little bit and do stuff faster lol

First of all, although both IE7 and Windows Explorer are linked through some of the same background utilities, they are different programs. Windows Explorer makes a decent FTP client, especially when you open the folder view sidebar. However, I found it has too poor maintained connections for my taste. It does have its advantages though, in that for some types of files you can just edit them remotely through Windows Explorer. Personally, I use FileZilla for the single uploads, or really large uploads where I want a stable connection. Mostly though, I use Dreamweaver (and older clunkier version, uggh) for web developement because I like colorized text, so I just use its ftp capabilities to keep my local and remote copies in synch. It usually does a good job, although sometimes, for unknown reasons, the initial setup can be a pain. And sometimes for unknown reasons it just won't connect to the server. I default to fileZilla or Windows Explorer in those cases.

~Viz

ftp is where you upload from a program directly to your ftp site. then your site can use images and files from the ftp.

I use smartFTP. But I can do everything I do in windows explorer that I do in smartFTP... I guess the only reason why I don't use windows explorer is because when I connect with windows explorer it says my username and password at the top. So just about anybody on my computer can gain access to my websites and change or delete my files. I don't really use all the fancy stuff with smartFTP, but it might come in handy one day.

This post has been edited by Laurence: Jul 4 2007, 01:11 AM

One thing I would have expected but isn't there is the option to edit the files directly at the server. Ah well, I think Windows Explorer is good too, and it's just as good as many other clients. Too bad I can't get SmartFTP to work with my Astahost account though.

windows explorer didnt seem to work greatly for me, the connections were rather slow, and it doesnt have as many options as a dedicated FTP program.

People tend to use FTP sfotware because it has unnumerous features like:

You can have a list of your servers, without having to remember them all.

You have Logs for your actions and mostly of the times, you can actually read why you could not copy that file.

You have File Queues, Speed details, Side By Side Explorer trees, and in some applications, you can actually edit a file in real time, without having to copy, open and recopy it.

Etc. etc etc.

Have fun

FTP software gives you like... more freedom when uploading stuff.

i dont think u can CHMOD or stuff like that in windows explorer.

I use Core FTP Lite, its really good.

i once downloaded this ftp program but as soon as it finished i got 2 trojans so yeah, i halted the computer in pc cillin and then that deleted them. i forgot wot it was called but if you come accross some ftp program with a 1 page site and no email address then dont download it.

I never use FTP on my dedicated server as I never installed an FTP server.

I recommend WINSCP. Its a SSH/SCP client that is like an FTP client but runs off port 22 and is therefore more secure/easier to configure. You can set it up on a server that only has an OS (like I had to on my freeBSD server). Its a little slower than FTP but it works great.

I dont have my own server to do that, oh unless it just goes on the computer and it just sends to the gamma server if u set it up like that.

a hosting company i know has a "webdrive", it sets up a drive on your computer and to edit your site you just go to the drive (it makes it the S: drive). if i ever bought hosting from there (and once i decide i need to buy hosting i am) i still wouldnt use it because it doesnt seem very secure.