Newbie is getting time-out errors

I'm quite litterally brand new at this... I've set up an ftp server just for the heck of it, and two things have gone wrong (both could be related, I think I can solve only one)

#1: When I try to get to it from my school's servers, Internet Explorer freezes. That's it. I think it might be some weird function of the firewall, but normally if the firewall/filter blocks something, it give a "Bess can't go there" site. If it's the firewall, I'll leave be, but...

#2: When it was working, everyone but me timed out when trying to access my server. I did a little trace route from tracert.com, and these were the results:
1 ar10-a3120s1.n54ny.ip.att.net (12.125.56.133) 1.70 ms 1.21 ms 1.54 ms
2 gbr1-a90s11.n54ny.ip.att.net (12.123.0.222) 1.50 ms 1.77 ms 1.27 ms
3 gar1-p360.n54ny.ip.att.net (12.123.1.129) 1.51 ms 1.51 ms 2.14 ms
4 12.244.73.97 (12.244.73.97) 3.53 ms 3.67 ms 3.77 ms
5 12.244.70.153 (12.244.70.153) 4.11 ms 10.3 ms 4.66 ms
6 10.174.32.1 (10.174.32.1) 4.64 ms 8.2 ms 7.51 ms

After that it times out. I've got the DNS server set up properly, because ping, etc. is translating the domain name properly (mystuff.yi.org), and I have never been good at anything networking & internet related, so I throw myself upon the mercy of the forum. Thanks in advance!

No, I guess I should, having cable in all, but aside from my complete lack of security, I'm still puzzled