any help would be greatly appreciated...
thanks,
moo

I use smart F.T.P. and it works fine, find it and download it, it's free.

Then just enter the login in the right blocks when you go to "connect" (which confused me at first but once i figured it out it was cool how easy it was to remember)

Oh and if you keep getting no-connection messages it just means it's busy. I have gotten on right away once or twice but most of the time I wait a while...

thanks for explainging the ftp.
moo

No problem hope you got some use out of it.

I didn't want to start a seperate threed for this, since this is about FTP's anyway...but I have been hearing people talking about using FTP's for storage and I was wondering, how exactly they work.

Is the FTP a link to files on your computer? Or is it like files stored on the internet? I mean, when I download from 100th Meridian, am I downloading from the individual whose FTP it is, or are the files just uploaded so they're out there in space somewhere?

And if I can throw more questions at you...does it cost money to have an FTP you can upload stuff to for storage? What are the best places to sign up for one, are any sites better than others?

Hope there's somebody out there who can help! Thanx!!

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol, and it is just one of many languages/instruction sets used to transfer files from computer to computer.

THM (TheHundredthMeridian) is an FTP site hosted on someones home computer, accessed through their internet connection. Jerremy (THM site owner) runs FTP Server software on his computer that allows outside users to access the files stored on his computer.

I would suggest doing some reading and research on FTP before asking more questions, as the answers may confuse you more than help, as you need to have a basic understanding of internet technology before sussing out an FTP site of your own.

Online sites cost money. Hosting it on you home computer is "free" but you need to pay for an internet connection.

Some sites offer free online storage, but your space is very limited, and the uses are also limited.

Hope that helps get you headed in the right direction.

OK well that answered one of my big questions which was, does my computer have to be left on when I want to let people upload or download things (which obviously I wouldn't have to do if an FTP was webspace). Thanks for that. Also thanks for saying you can do it for free on your home computer, if you had said all FTPs cost money I probably would have stopped right there since I don't need one badly for any particular reason. If it can be done for free using storage on my PC i'll definitely look into it.

Now I know a couple of things that will help a lot in my decisions about whether to bother with setting one up. I really do appreciate your advice, great to have someone who knows all this stuff and doesn't get all uppity about people like me asking basic questions!! LOL

It's not that simple to set one up on your home computer. Presumably you are have either a cable or DSL connection; and you IP changes regularly. This means you will need to get some form of DNS redirection service set-up. www.dyndns.org is a site that offers this service.

Additionally, running a home FTP site is prohibited by pretty much all Internet Service Providers, so keep that in mind.

FTP sites place high demands on your computer, and your internet connection (assuming that you have a lot of users).

You also need to have special server software running on your computer.

Wow that's tough stuff...I never realized all that was involved. I'll keep it in mind going forward, I'm glad you set me up to expect an "uphill battle". I probably won't go through with it, I suck at stuff like this, but at least I'm better informed now. I was reading a tech forum earlier today and what they were saying was greek to me, but nobody said "newbies go home" like it was a tough task, I thought they were talking about fairly simple stuff in unneccesarily complicated terms.

Your explanaion was so much clearer, now I know what to expect so again, thanks. I felt like a dolt asking basic questions like that in a place where the people at the top really know their stuff (I didn't want it to look like I was looking for easy answers without putting in effort of my own), but your coments proved why it was a good idea to put it out there. You're one of the good guys!