FTP is probably the most important and is definitely one of the most used utilities on the Internet today.

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol, and in very basic terms it allows you to copy a file from any location on the Internet anywhere in the world and then bring it to your machine or vice versa.

Your own computer is known as the local host and the computer from where you get the files of you want is called the remote host. If you request a file to be sent to you, then you are downloading, if you wish to send a file of your own to another computer then you are uploading.

There are many FTP packages available for free on the Internet and they are usually platform specific e.g. PC users have a program called WS_ftp, whereas Macintosh users have a program called Fetch.

Depending on how the system is set up of the remote host you may be able to download or upload using what is known as anonymous FTP. This means that when you dial into a remote host you will be asked for a login name, to which you would type: anonymous

Next you will be asked for a password, to which you type your full email address e.g. username@datacruz.com

Normally after access has been obtained you will be put into the remote host's default directory (usually /pub/) public access. You can now find the files you want from the remote host and transfer them to the local host. Once you have found a file that you would like to transfer to your machine, you activate the transfer data process. Transfer works in two modes and it is vital that you choose the correct mode for the type of file you require.

The two modes are ASCII and binary.

• ASCII is used for transferring text-only files
• Binary is used for transferring images, compressed files or executables (*.exe). If choose ASCII and you transfer an image, program or archive (.zip, .tar) file, you will end up with a corrupt file that will not work and will probably crash your computer if you try to execute it. So make sure you pick the correct mode of transfer.
• The first thing you need is an FTP program. We recommend you use a program called WS_FTP if you are a PC owner. For MAC users, you need to use a program called Fetch. WS_FTP can be downloaded from our server via regular FTP or through our home page. Fetch can only be downloaded through our home page.