Hey Everybody-

I've done some Google-ing but it hasn't helped much. My SmartFTP is starting to act weird and I'd rather play it safe and get something new. I just wanted to see what everybody else had to suggest. Preferably, I'd like something free, but I know how hard it is to find free software that's worth using. I guess I'd be willing to pay for something if it's really worth it or I really need it.

Thanks!
anwipr

WebMaestro is an FTP client written for webmasters. It's a little different from other FTP programs; instead of showing you everything on your computer and everything on the host, you just see your local files, and click to upload them. It keeps track of which ones you've changed and when, so if your page has 400 files and two of them need to be uploaded, it'll show you only those two, apart from the other 398.

Of course it's free. But in the interest if full disclosure, it's important to say that I wrote it. I like it more than other FTP clients because it does exactly what I want it to ... which may or may not be what you expect or want.

Funny enough my Smart FTP is starting to play me up too the last few days. Been fine for at least a year.

Thanks Forrest i'll check it out.

@ams3521: same! I've been using it for the longest time and all of a sudden I can hardly get it to start. I like being able to edit my files by just clicking on them and having the .txt files show up in Notepad. I'm not even sure what's really "standard" since I've only ever used SmartFTP. One thing I don't like is how it times me out after 5 minutes though.

@ForrestCroce: I tried downloading it, but when I ran it, a " .NET Framework Initialization Error " came up. I have no idea what that is; it told me I needed to install some .NET framework... ???

anwipr ive pretty much used Smartftp since ive been learning to do websites. I think a good alternative could be
http://www.cuteftp.com/downloads/cuteftp.aspx

I forget if its free or not and for why i aint using it. I would recommend that if yourfamiliar with Smart frp

Originally Posted by anwipr

@ForrestCroce: I tried downloading it, but when I ran it, a " .NET Framework Initialization Error " came up. I have no idea what that is; it told me I needed to install some .NET framework... ???

Ahh... The Microsoft .NET Framework is a part of Windows, but an optional part. Windows has always run pure machine code from C++, but now that computers are getting so much faster and software more advanced, MS is switching to "managed code." It can't do all of what machine code can do, like "buffer overruns" and other types of errors that can corrupt shared memory. "Managed" or .NET code does things like check the buffer's limits before trying to read or write part of it. Programs for .NET can have logic errors and not do what you want, but they can't crash and bring down the rest of the O/S or other running programs. At least that's the hype from MS.

Anyway, almost all of the development I do is in C# which is a Microsoft .NET programming language. So it will only run on systems that have the .NET Framework on them, and it has to be 2.0 or later. The good news is it's free; the bad news is downloading it won't extend the security benefits to non-managed code.

If you'd like to install the framework, Microsoft hosts it here:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/net.../aa731542.aspx

.NET Framework Version 2.0 Software Development Kit

This SDK includes everything you need to write, build, test, and deploy .NET Framework applications—documentation, samples, and command-line tools and compilers. You must install the .NET Framework version 2.0 Redistributable Package prior to installing the SDK.

• Download x86 version
• Download x64 version
• Download IA64 version

In your shoes, I might try a different client instead of installing a new module into Windows. I think my software is wonderful because it does the specific things I do often, but those might not always be the way you work, and you've got by this far without the framework. I can't recommend one, though, because I wrote my own instead of trying something else. But Windows itself works; if you double click "My Computer" and then type ftp://domain.com into the address bar, it'll prompt you to log in.

I really need to write an msi package or something to test for this stuff during the install.

A free option I've used quite a bit is Filezilla. You'll have to google it for the site but it's a great little open source FTP.

I've got the free trial of CuteFTP going, I'll see how that works out. I'll try Filezilla next, thanks! Any more suggestions would be greatly appreciated, and thanks for everything you've already proposed.

Hey guys.

I was referred to core ftp which supports sftp (secure ftp). It is free and I have downloaded it but not yet played with it.

Will try to update this thread after I do.

I use filezilla and it is very reliable and fast.