Bruce Von Stiers

About three and a half years ago I wrote a review about a program called WS_FTP. At that time, BVS Reviews was a site on AOL. I hated the FTP setup that AOL had and was looking for something bigger and better to get my files loaded onto the server. I found WS_FTP Pro and never looked back. BVS Reviews is now a dot com but I’ve still been using the older version of WS_FTP. There is a newer, greater version of the program out. I decided to take a look at the new version and see how it has been improved.

The company that puts out this program is called Ipswitch. They have an FTP program for single users, one for servers and even a developer’s edition. The pricing varies, but the downloadable version is only $ 39.95 U.S.

Most of us know what FTP is. But for those who don’t, it stands for File Transfer Protocol. This is a software driven method of transferring material from one computer to another. If you download or upload files through services like Morpheus or Kazaa, then you are using an enhanced FTP program.

But what if you aren’t using one of these services and need to upload or download files? You will need a FTP process of some sort. As I found out with AOL (at least at that time) the FTP process from your ISP can be really slow or funky. AOL only allowed one file to be transferred at a time. I know that that has changed a lot, but not being dependent on your ISP’s FTP process is a lot better way to go. With WS_FTP Pro, you are only limited by the data transfer rate of your modem.

WS_FTP offers you two distinct ways to upload or download files. The WS_FTP Pro is a classic type of FTP interface where you have two separate panes. After connecting to an FTP site, the files on the site you are accessing are listed in the right pane. A folder that you have selected to either upload from or download to is listed in the left panel. There are directional arrow buttons between the two panes to direct the file traffic. Just highlight the files you want to transfer and click the appropriate button. This is mainly for older 16-bit and slower 32-bit systems.

The WS_FTP Pro Explorer acts just like Windows Explorer. Open it up and you will see an interface that is just like Windows Explorer. Open up Windows Explorer and find the folder that you want to upload to or download from. Then you can either copy and paste or drag and drop the files to the proper folders.

You can also browse the folders on an FTP site that haven’t been restricted. The program will let your execute programs or open files that you find on these sites. The Explorer version has some of the more popular FTP sites listed for you.

WS-FTP Pro is available as a shareware program. After a trial evaluation period the program times out and you are asked to purchase the registered version. Their web site is www.ipswitch.com. Or you can call them at (781) 676 – 5700.

I found that the program had been enhanced a little. There are now Certificate features and the program how sports a History tab to keep track of your activity. You also have local and mapped drives listed in the Explorer interface. And if you get hung up, there is an automatic retry for failed transfers.

For a quick, easy to use FTP client/ server program, I couldn’t find any better than WS_FTP Pro.