FTP Question

Sem,

FTP (short for File Transfer Protocol) is a way to transfer files between computers, indeed. On your PC you run a FTP 'client' and that's a way to transfer files to and from FTP 'servers' on the net.

It's commonly used to put web pages on the Internet. Some companies have ftp-sites to distribute programs, and an ftp-client is useful then. But ftp-sites are accessible with your Internet Explorer also. For example, copy ftp://ftp.planet.nl/pub/planet/games/win95/ into the address bar and you can download game demo's (easily 100 Mb) to your PC from an ftp-site. FTP can't be used (as far as I know) to transfer files between Windows PC's.

SmartFTP is free (and there are many other free ftp-clients), so that wouldn't be a problem. And it's safe, as long as you only use it to download safe files (without viruses).

Still, it seems uncommon that your kid should need FTP to download files for school. Mine (in The Netherlands) never have done so. Of course they use P2P-programs to download music (and more) and IM-programs (like MSN Messenger and ICQ) and email to exchange pics (and documents) with friends, but I'm quite sure they never needed an FTP-client (or they would have asked me).

That's why I would like to see some instruction or assignment or other document from school telling him to use ftp ("show me what you have to do", "can't it be done with IE"), or I would supervise his first few downloads ("I'll show you how it works", which would be true in my case), just to see what it is all about. But with a satisfactory explanation and background and purpose, I wouldn't object.

Hope this helps.


Kees

1. Windows comes out-of-the-box with a FTP-client installed. It's command-line based (not GUI = graphical user interface), but it does everything any ftp-user needs. With a GUI and a mouse it's just more easy.

2. You can try to repeat your question in the Computer Help forum. There are more visitors there, and I expect you'll get more answers there.

Kees