What is an FTP Site?
"The only truly secure computer is one buried in concrete, with the power turned off and the network cable cut." (Anon)
An FTP site is like a large filing cabinet. With a traditional filing cabinet, the person who does the filing has the option to label and organise the files as well as deciding which files to keep in locked drawers and which files remain available for public access.
FTP sites operate on the same principals.
The virtual 'key' to get into an FTP site consists of two parts:
- A UserID
- A Password
If the owner of the FTP site is willing to give everyone access to their files, the UserID is automatically set to 'anonymous' whilst the Password is your email address. If the FTP site is not for public access, there may well be a unique UserID and Password for each person who is granted access. If you do not provide the correct USerID/Password combination, you simply won't get into the FTP site in question.
When connecting to an FTP site that allows anonymous logins, you may not be prompted for a name and password as you may well have already entered your email address into the FTP software you're using or your email address is available to your web browser. So if you have downloaded files from the Internet, you are likely to have already used an anonymous FTP login without knowing it.
To make an FTP connection you can use your normal web browser or a dedicated FTP software program, referred to as an FTP 'Client'.
When using a Web browser for an FTP connection, FTP uploads are difficult, or sometimes impossible, and downloads are not protected (not recommended for uploading or downloading large files).
When connecting with an FTP Client, uploads and downloads are much easier, and you may have access to additional features such as being able to automatically resume a file transfer that was interrupted. If you intend to download large numbers of files, or you're thinking about creating some web pages, you really should consider getting an FTP Client.