Tuesday, December 29, 2015

FTP Clients

I have long been spoiled by IPSwitch's WS_FTP graphical interface FTP client program.  Because both my PC and my wife's PC are down while awaiting new disk drives, I had to download it again. Unfortunately it is no longer free except during a 30 day trial, and it is not dirt-cheap, either.  But FileZilla remains free.  It is a little different from WS_FTP but not enough to drive me off.

5 comments:

  1. Clayton,

    From several past comments, I know that you know that I am an exclusively Apple customer (desktop, notebook, ipad and iphone)

    I am a regular reader, and so I am posting my regular consternation at what is a seemingly endless array and number of problems that you have with PC based products. What is that you do with your computers that make it seem like you are always having a problem with them?

    I just let my SIL borrow a 2006 Mabook Pro that I used for years as a desktop replacement; I am still using a 2006 iMac desktop, and have added others to the stable for convenience, not need.

    I have never, not even one time, had a failure issue with any of them. They work everyday for years without one hiccup.

    What is that you do with your computers that make it seem like you are always having a problem with them?

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  2. Both of the current problems are hard disk failures, which are very common. My son who is a Mac guy has had a few as well. The two HP notebooks that I have are antiques (2001 and 2005 vintage). Both are working just fine. The problem with the ThinkPad is the sort of randon disk failure that I have learned to expect after 3-4 years of use; it is a disappointment in a PC a year old. The various software issues are mostly that Microsoft has big gaping security holes and the sheer number of PCs make them a tempting target for hackers to exploit.

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  3. I hate the way random disk failures seem to come in groups.
    Once you have one of those computers working again, it may be possible to recover that free version of the FTP package to install on your updated system.
    I've found it useful to use DriveImage XML or Acronis to periodically make a "bootable clone" of my system drive onto another raw drive. It isn't a replacement for regular normal backups, but it is jolly handy when a drive has failed to have another one that is substantially the same, either to boot from an external enclosure or to swap into the computer. That saves lots of time in getting back to work.

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  4. I love FileZilla, and have been using it for years, and through a Windows XP -> Linux transition as I recall. But you have to be careful about getting a copy without malware, it's the poster child for the decline and fall of SourceForge.

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  5. rfb: Now looks to me like a very bad time to enter the Mac OS X ecosystem, because it's clear to me that it's Apple's red-headed stepchild compared to iOS, and Apple has never be great at software and post Jobs may in general be getting worse (the part of my family I take care of is Android and Linux currently, so I'm not up on the latest details, but what I hear paints a consistent picture of Apple travails).

    Plus our host has really serious computer chops and much more time than money, the Apple value proposition has always been aimed at different people.

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