Pepping Up Windows

FTP Client

Do you have your own website? If so, then you'll need to use the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) whenever you want to copy new files to your web server. This can also be achieved using Windows components - namely the command line program ftp.exe - and to a limited degree, Internet Explorer. However, the open-source solution Filezilla (freeware) does the job with much greater ease of use and offers more options as well.

The better FTP Client: Filezilla transfers files from your PC to a server and vice versa. A very convenient feature is the option to continue interrupted transfers where they left off.

Here's how: Install Filezilla. Leave all options in the Window "Choose Components" set to "Standard". In most cases, it is also no longer necessary to activate the so-called "safe mode" in the "General Settings" configuration dialog. This option prevents Filezilla from remembering passwords.

The program is very easy to use. Enter the address of the target FTP server in the field labeled "Address" and fill in the "User Name" and Password" fields as well. If you're planning to frequently transfer large files to and from a server, enter this information in the "Server Manager" instead, which you can access by clicking on the leftmost icon at the top.

Window Cleaning: The file "ftp.exe" can be found in the "C\WINDOWS\system32" directory. You can delete it, but you'll gain only 41 kB.

Multimedia

The multimedia programs that come with Windows are hardly spectacular. In fact, the only components worth mentioning at all are a minimalist audio recorder and the Windows Media Player.