If you’ve used your PC for any extended period of time, you’ve probably run into frustrating errors, pesky viruses, and unexplainable slow performances. These often result from the fact that programmers and developers (like all humans) make mistakes, misjudge what people will need, or simply fail to add features that would make your PC work so much better. Thankfully, the world is full of coders devoted to filling these gaps with their own applications that cover various tasks, from fixing the inherent errors that lie within the operating system to completely reorganizing how you surf and access the web.
Even better, many of these are free.

The point of this article is to use your PC to its full potential. While these apps may not save a dying and decrepit computer, they will certainly improve anyone’s PC and give you a second wind.

#1 – CCleaner (Available from Piriform.com)
Description: The mother of all optimization apps, this one is a must and features on dozens of Top Applications lists year after year. With a single click, CCleaner can run through your PC and start cleaning out unneeded data and unclog memory hogging programs. These can even be customized, ensuring that things you would like to keep (like saved passwords) will not be deleted but everything else (like Temporary Files, Recycle Bin, old Cache Data, etc) will be cleaned out completely. CCleaner also hosts several other functions, like checking your registry for errors, uninstalling and modifying programs, and handling your startup programs.

#2 – Defraggler (Available from Defraggler.com)
Description: From the same company as CCleaner, Defraggler helps you when you need to defragment your hard drives (something you should do on a regular basis). Unlike the built in Windows defragmenter, however, Defraggler does a much cleaner job in a much smaller time frame. Instead of leaving your computer on all night to complete defragmenting, Defraggler often gets the job done in less than an hour (even less if you use Quick Defrag; times will vary with hard drive size).

#3 – Browser (Multiple Choices Available from Mozilla.com, Opera.com, and Chrome.Google.com)
Description: Although this may seem like an obvious choice, a shocking number of people still use Internet Explorer for their browsing needs. Not only does Internet Explorer(IE) have a large number of security exploits that are unfixed, a meager amount of features, and a tendency to crash you when you need it the most, IE users are missing out on whole new ways to surf the web. The three main alternatives to IE are Mozilla Firefox, Opera, and Google Chrome, each with their own benefits. Firefox is known for its reliability and incredible customizability (with millions of add-ons freely available). Opera comes bundled with tons of built-in features. Chrome has a speedy and simple interface that many people enjoy. While the choice is ultimately up to you, researching each browser will be of great benefit to you.

#4 – AVG (Available from Free.AVG.com)
Description: The Internet has become a dangerous place, with viruses, malware, and spyware lurking everywhere. Thankfully, AVG has provided a free way to handle these problems. Not much more really needs to be said on the subject. Just install, scan, and let it do its own thing.

#5 – Secunia PSI (Available from Secunia.com)
Description: Sooner or later, your programs will be out of date. Instead of worrying about when new patches are released and how important they are, download this application instead. The personal version of Secunia will scan your computer and let you know which apps need to be updated in order to keep your system safe and secure.

#6 – Dropbox (Available from Dropbox.com)
Description: When you need to store files online or want access to certain documents, photos, or music from anywhere in the world, there are plenty of backup services to help you. Dropbox, however, stands out from the competition by giving you 1 GB completely free and integrating its services into the Windows operating system.

#7 – VLC (Available from VideoLan.org)
Description: Ever try opening a media file only to have a codec error? With VLC, all of these problems should go away without any hassle. In a nutshell, if VLC can’t play the file, it’s probably corrupted or not real.

#8 – Notepad++ (Available from Notepad-plus.SourceForge.net)
Description: While most people don’t see the need to replace the standard text editor Notepad, Notepad++ brings to the table a plethora of features without sacrificing disk space or system memory. If you code HTML, C++, Java or any other programming language, Notepad++ will also natively conform to the syntax of your chosen language. Notepad++ also supports plugins.

#9 – 7-Zip (Available from 7-Zip.org)
Description: With files getting bigger and more numerous by the minute, archives such as .zip, .rar, and .ace have become increasingly popular. Instead of having to download a program for extracting each of those formats and needing another to create archives, simply download 7-Zip, which covers all of these tasks.

#10 – WinDirStat (Available from WinDirStat.info)
Description: Finally, while you can buy copious amounts of hard disk space for fairly cheap prices nowadays, there’s no reason not to take care of your files and to clean up every once in a while. Download WinDirStat to see a graphical representation of what folders are taking up space on your machine, and what folders are hiding unnecessary files that you no longer need on your PC.

Web conferencing products have many capabilities that will be valuable to your organization. They can facilitate the way you conduct business, leading to more savings and better management, all which will contribute positively to your bottom line. But in order to maximize the benefits of web conferencing, one must choose the right tools. Because various products have different strengths, you should keep a few things in mind as you select these tools.

Different web conferencing programs are created for different tasks. Thus, knowing what your organization needs is the first step in the selection process and an integral part in successfully implementing and integrating the software as part of your business.
Web conferencing products can be basically categorized into four main groups. Firstly, there are those products that are used for General Business Communications. These products are all-inclusive meaning their capabilities are multi-faceted yet integrated. For example, they can host meetings, do broadcasts, hold training sessions and perform customer service and support tasks.

Another group of products can help you in designing Collaboration Strategies. These products are geared more towards meetings and work which requires a high level of collaboration between various teams. They focus more on the specific functions required by small to medium enterprises. Project Management Focus software meantime allows people to map out how one task leads to another and who is doing what on a particular project. This is ideal for projects that require the collaboration of different databases and run in different locations. Finally Training tools are interactive programs where web conferencing can be used as a training medium.

To begin with, it is important to determine exactly what it is you intend to achieve with a certain tool. You should know the end result that has to be accomplished. You should also ask yourself the sort of activities one intends to carry out to meet these goals. For example, will you require a brainstorming session or a presentation lecture? It is also important to know the number of people you will need to connect with. Will you be delivering your presentation to a small or large group of people? Once you have determined this, it will also be helpful to know what sort of computers the people you intend to conference with have. Having this information can help you decide if you will pursue software that can support different types of computers or operating systems. Similarly, having an idea of the type of Internet connection the attendees of your conference have can help you eliminate some conferencing solutions. For example if many of your participants have dial-up connections, you may choose to no longer consider those conferencing tools that will work only with high-speed connections.

You will also need to decide if you want a web conferencing program that you can purchase and install on your computers or if you will opt to pay for the service each month. A web conferencing provider may be ideal as this can liberate you from the technical matters and you can concentrate on your presentations and deliveries.

Choosing the latter option however opens up a new set of questions to consider: choosing a web conferencing provider. Here are a few helpful guidelines to aid you in this phase of the selection process. Providers offer services at price per minute formulas or at a flat rate. Most experts agree that a flat rate can offer the same level of functionality. You should look for openings that will let you call conferences as many times as you want without suffering extra costs. It may also maximize the potential of the concept of web conferencing if you select a provider that offers Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). VoIP allows you to make long distance calls over the Internet, making your sessions more fruitful than if they were conducted only through text chat. It is also important to choose a provider that gives you easy access to customer service in case you run into technological glitches. The degree of interaction your vendor or provider takes in setting you up and guiding you through your web conferencing journeys will keep you from getting lost in this rapidly expanding sector of the computer industry.

Whatever you decide, you should always make sure to try the technology before actually committing and purchasing it. A mere demo on how the technology works may not be sufficient to give you an idea of how well the tool works or more specifically how the tool will work for you.
Choosing a conferencing provider such as GoToMeeting which offers a free trial period is a good way to be sure you choose the right option. A GoToMeeting Promo Code can be applied to increase the trial period or receive an additional discount.

With the rise of the technological age, laptops have become as commonplace as the home computer once was. In some instances, the laptop has replaced the desktop entirely. One of the primary reasons for the laptop’s popularity is its mobility. This mobility, however, can lead to increased wear and tear, and unexpected damage.

Because laptops are designed to be mobile, they are more prone to being damaged. Aside from the typical wear and tear resulting from the laptop’s mobility, the laptop is at greater risk of damage from an accident. There are many common ways to damage a laptop: accidentally pouring coffee on it, dropping it, running it over, or even sitting on it. Laptops can be rendered unbootable by physical damage to the case.

Mostly, laptops are used as secondary computers, or are wired to office networks; this allows data on laptops to be backed up in other locations. In the case of data loss, the important data from the laptop is stored in a different location. Backup utilities use this connectivity to schedule the automatic backup of files to a desktop computer, or a file server.

In most cases, laptop purchases include a recovery disk CD. The recovery CD contains the version of the hard disk that exists before the laptop is ever used. If the user’s hard disk fails, or the user wants to re-write or re-install the laptop, a full reinstall is performed by booting up the laptop from a recovery CD. In the case of data recovery, after the system has been re-installed, a full restore can be performed from an existing backup.

It is important to note that the laptop recovery CD is not the same as the Windows recovery disk. The data recovery disks are different from data recovery programs. When the computer fails to boot then we use the Windows recovery disk. It is used in both desktop and laptops. It restores the system files in Windows to their original versions. Users can boot up the disk and recover data by using recovery disks to restore hard disk data; such disks are available at backup and recovery software vendors.

Some laptops come with intelligent hard disks, which help to prevent loss of data. The Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology – or SMART technology – informs the computer’s user of the likelihood of hard disk failure. A user with a laptop containing SMART disks would be informed if a hard disk crash were inevitable. This affords the user enough time to back up important data from his or her hard disk. Additionally, it gives the user the luxury of having the service center diagnose the computer before the hard disk fails.

Laptop recovery services are available to owners in case of accidental damage. These are full service repair bureaus, in that they check not just the hard disk, but all of the computer’s parts. The laptop’s owner sends it out to the service center for a checkup, a diagnostics test, data recovery, or some other kind of repair. In the case of laptop data recovery, the hard disk is isolated, and a copy of it saved prior to the start of repairs.

Laptop data recovery process is longer than desktop data recovery. There are also several additional causes of laptop damage and hard disk failure. There are, however, different laptop recovery solutions available depending on the scenario, whether it be hard disk failure, boot up failure, or data loss.

In the case that you have lost really significant data on your PC, you’re going to have to think about looking for a data recovery business near you. The accidentally erased data can be recovered by recovery service providers. Good services offered by different data recovery service providers will help you get back lost emails, photos and important documents.

There are two types of data recovery service providers: one is a data recovery software service and the other is a hard drive repair service. Generally data recovery services chage more money and they take much longer time to recover data. When considering using a data recovery service, consider if the value of the data is worth the time and amount of money you will have to pay.

Obviously, the majority of data recovery businesses each work at a differing pace. The retrieval of your lost information can be accelerated if you are willing to pay more money. The data recovery service provider will review the time required before their service starts. If you want a faster appraisal, you might have to pay an extra fee, but it will decrease the cash that you spend in the end.

Generally, two kinds of data recovery services exist: full-service data recovery businesses and independent experts. Independent professionals can be more affordable than the big data recovery businesses when you figure in the turnaround time. Once data is recovered, there are a number of security issues in the material that should be immediately addressed no matter what type of service is used. Who would you trust to repair your damaged hardware?

The bottom line is, when considering data recovery services, one needs to think about the amount of time that it would take, the entire price tag and the significance of the lost information. A lot of individuals would say that the relief of retrieving their lost information cancels out any possible danger. When considering employing a data recovery company, consider the amount of time and the price to replace all of the data that was lost. A professional data recovery service may be needed to recover some lost data such as photos and emails that you might never see again without their help.

If you can’t recover your lost information on your own, it might be a good idea to look into employing a business which specializes in data recovery services in order to get your data back in one piece.

Data recovery refers to the recovery of information that is lost because of physical injuries such as damaged disks and tapes or an impaired system. There is lots of free software for data recovery that anybody can download and use.

There are a variety of ways to lose files and data: when formatting, while installing a new operating system, when deleting by mistake and virus corruption. In all computers these problems can occur at any time.

You can best guard against data loss by pro-actively managing your system. You should always have a back-up system for your critical data. When the unthinkable does occur, having the backup will surely simplify the situation.

There are several ways of recovering lost and damaged files. If the lost information is a really urgent matter, the best thing to do is bring your issue directly to the data recovery businesses that possesses the professionals to get the job done.

However, if you believe you are smart enough to know what to do and you have technical computer and storage device knowledge, then you have two choices: buy the data recovery software package or go online and download a free data recovery program.

Some data recovery programs are free to use, while others can be costly. Software packages may cost a lot however they can actually have many advantages (such as support) for the user. People might ask for donations for downloading free recovery software.

What should you do if you accidently format your drive without the data saved in backup?

The service providers for data recovery will provide the data recovery service for their client only. Disk-swap activities should be avoided in order to prevent further data damage.

It is recommended to not download the install recovery software on the same computer. You’ll need to move to a different PC, download the file to a flash drive and, then, run it straight from there.

It is also suggested that you avoid sharing recovered files on the same hard drive.

There are many online programs that offer free data recovery. Should any issues occur while downloading or installing the program, press the cancel or stop button. This is a possible indication of a malfunction in your hardware.

Be sure to do a little research before you think of downloading free recovery software to deal with the information that was lost. Always keep caution in the forefront of your mind when dealing with freeware, to avoid any more issues.

Don’t be taken in by sites that offer free data recovery programs; they are often malware. In other cases they may claim the program doesn’t cost anything however you will soon learn that these are only demo versions and eventually you must buy the actual program to have the advantages or extra features. There are lots of free downloadable software for data recovery

Blue Coat K9 Web Protection is a free web content filtering tool. The software has a surprisingly wide array of options that can be set to filter not only websites but also specific keywords and usage times. Parents and computer administrators should find this software to be an excellent alternative to other Internet filters such as Net Nanny.

Blue Coat has a team of administrators who manually categories every website that is in the filtering database. This database is hosted on Blue Coat’s servers from where client computers access it. In the event that a request to access an unrated website is made, the software will allow access by default. As a workaround, K9 can be set to automatically block unrated sites or the dynamic rating feature can be turned on. The dynamic rating feature tries to filter content using a software approach until a Blue Coat administrator can manually rate the site.

After installation, K9 is set, by default, to block rebel sites that carry p0rn, nudity, drugs and other offensive materials; the software’s administrator can then set his/her preference. Blue Coat K9 users also have the option of submitting new websites that aren’t currently rated and ask for websites, which have previously been rated, to be reviewed.

K9 does a pretty good job of integrating the “safe search” feature that many search engines, such as Google, have. The K9 “force Safe Search” feature works well to keep web search queries clean, by blocking search results that have keywords that K9 was preset to block. Since, most search engines allows the user to easily turn off safe search, K9 gives users an added level of protection by allowing the K9 administrator to force the use of the ‘safe search’ feature at all times; there is also a setting that can be used to block the use of search engines that don’t have a Blue Coat supported ‘safe search’ feature.

With K9 running on a computer, users will notice that not all the content from some websites will be displayed, even if K9 was set the allow the content. This happens if the website in question has content from another site that is blocked by a K9 setting. For example, if K9 was set to block video sharing sites, the user will not be able to see embedded videos from Youtube, even if viewing of the current site is allowed by the administrator.

This content filter can also serve as a web usage-monitoring tool. By turning off the website blocking settings the administrator can simply have K9 keep a log of the Internet activities on the computer being monitored. The activity monitor can then be used to display a detailed report on web categories that are being visited and the frequency with which the computer’s user are accessing those sites. The software can also be used to set time restrictions and disable all Internet services, if users make too many attempts to access restrict websites or categories. This is a powerful feature that can be used to thwart attempts to circumvent the monitoring software or to force users to consider the slippery slope they are embarking.

K9 Blue Coat Web Protection web content filter has a tidy set of features to manage, monitor and filter web content that is being view on a computer. Not only can the software be set to filter websites in general but also to filter specific keywords and also set restrictions on computer usage times. It is indeed a powerful tool that is sure to meet, and in some cases exceed the needs of a parent or computer administrator who is looking for a free content filter or parental control software.

Battlefield 2142 is an interesting take on the relatively simplistic nature of FPS games. DICE and EA have created a game that aims to blend the successful and fun elements of the previous Battlefield franchise games (Battlefield 1942, Battlefield 2) with the careful strategic planning required in any RTS game. While at the most basic level 2142 is simply an advanced Battlefield 2 remake, it can also be seen as a successful attempt to bring a new importance to team play and game play planning. The background story of the 2142 world is that Earth has plunged into another Ice Age and two powerful forces; the Pan-Asian Coalition and the European Union must battle it out to decide who claims the last remaining parts of the Earth not covered in ice.

Multiplayer is the core of 2142, as it has been in other games of the franchise. Bots in single player mode only allow limited excitement as you play against them in the classic Battlefield Conquest mode (where you must capture strategic points on the map in order to reduce your enemy’s score to 0). Titan mode is available for multiplayer only, but the game play mechanics are vastly different to the staple defensive and offensive play in Conquest. While in Conquest mode the only way to reduce your opponent’s score is to capture strategic outposts and kill enemies, in Titan, your objective is to destroy the enemy’s Titan (a large flying fortress).

Missile silos replace strategic outposts on Titan maps and must be captured in order to destroy the enemy Titan’s shield. Once it is down, missiles continue to pound the enemy Titan hull until it is destroyed, or the silo is neutralized. A quicker victory can be achieved by storming the Titan with troops and blowing up the reactor at its core. This is obviously a far more difficult option as the Titan is well defended both internally and externally: huge cannons on the bottom of the Titan which can be controlled by players pound the ground below, anti-aircraft guns mounted on the Titan roof guard the skies, and players guard the halls of the Titan from the inside.

Weapons and vehicles obviously play an integral role in 2142 game play. The standard Battlefield 2 vehicle conversions exist, such as a small, 3-man jeep, APCs, tanks, and aircraft (a gunship and a transport). The only problem with some of these vehicles is that each has its own learning curve – aircraft are naturally harder to fly than a tank is to drive, and each vehicle has a different number of men it can carry and guns to mount. You can also hop into one of the many field emplacements on the map such as anti-tank guns and anti-aircraft guns. The maps are huge in typical Battlefield style with bunkers and hiding places everywhere for the skilled sniper or support gunner to utilize.

The weapons in 2142 are varied and each is suited to a particular play style. You can choose fro the Engineer kit (anti-vehicle guns, mines, explosives), Assault kit (assault rifles, grenades, medic kits), Support kit (machine guns, shields, ammo kits) or Recon kit (sniper rifles, sabotage devices, infiltration devices). Generally speaking, you cannot be jack-of-all trades because each weapon is unlocked progressively. You earn experience points with which you unlock the next item in a specific kit, and then begin to amass experience for the next unlock. This encourages more strategic play (specifically, more take-and-hold oriented play rather than mad, free-for-all rushes at important locations) but can be daunting for the newbie who gets gunned down by an experienced player with a much more powerful gun. However, you can pick up enemy kits that are dropped when a player dies, so you can try an item out before you actually use your own unlocks on it.

Players can choose to be squad leaders and command players in group of up to six soldiers, giving them orders to defend, attack, and basic directional commands. For those looking for a little more responsibility, you can take command of the squads on the team in the position of Commander. Commanders can play the game in an RTS-style overhead map where they can choose to drop supplies, deploy EMP and orbital strikes, and order squads around. Not for the faint of heart, a poor commander can lead a team to a quick demise while a skilled one can counter enemy movements effectively and make victory come swiftly.
The graphics and sounds are superb, but Battlefield 2 fans might be a little disappointed that there hasn’t been a complete graphics overhaul.

Graphics are similar to those of Battlefield 2 but a lot of improvements have been made here and there. The vehicles in particular look great, but are lacking damage modeling which could make blowing up a tank with an anti-tank rocket much more satisfying. Sounds are well done, and weapon sounds in particular contribute a lot to the game’s atmosphere. Support guns emit a low, rumbling sound as they fire and pistols make a short, high pitched sound as they shoot. The voice commands you can issue (Yes, No, I need ammo, etc.) may lack a little variety but these play only a small part in the overall 2142 experience.

Overall, 2142 is a solid progression from the Battlefield 2 modern combat setting to a new, futuristic, exciting battleground filled with all manner of vehicles to throttle and weapons to experiment with. A must buy for Battlefield fans and a good investment for those looking for a more strategic-oriented FPS game.

This article will cover a few of the techniques and tools used by professional web developers, designers and programmers in their work to test new code and improve their software/websites. Many people don’t know about this, and end up spending much more time on testing (uploading, changing code, troubleshooting) than needed.
This will be very useful to you if you are just starting out in any web development language like PHP, ASP, Javascript and others or if you just have a site that you want to maintain and improve yourself.

Let me start by saying that professionals rarely change and test their code via an FTP client right on their web server. This is because it takes a lot of time to download, edit and re-upload a file via FTP (especially when you’re changing just a line or two of code, or your Internet connection speed is less than stellar) and because they don’t want their visitors to notice any strange things on the website while they are testing the code.

So, what do they do?
They work and test everything locally, which means they have a copy of their website and database in a folder on their computer and they change those files and see the results immediately in any web browser. I’m going to show and explain a few tools used for this purpose in Windows (Linux and Mac OS X are a little different, although you can easily use the tips here for those Operating Systems, too).

To be able to see your website on your computer via any web browser requires you to install a web server (Apache, Microsoft IIS, Lighttpd or any other) on your computer and route it to your localhost IP address (which is 127.0.0.1 by default). If this seems complicated, don’t worry, it is not!

Installing a web server for testing purposes on your Windows machine is as easy as installing Mozilla Firefox, MS Office or any other application. It is a simple matter of downloading an installer and running it.
There are 2 best programs for this purpose: WAMPServer (Windows, Apache, MySQL, PHP Server) and XAMPP (Apache, MySQL, PHP, Perl for Linux, Windows, Mac OS X and Solaris). While XAMPP is cross-platform and has Perl support, I prefer WAMPServer because it is simpler to install, configure and use.
To download it, go to http://www.wampserver.com/en/download.php and click “Download WampServer” (optionally you can download any version of MySQL, Apache & PHP from the Addons page). After installing, start it up and you should see a tray icon (that looks like a speedometer) showing its status.

It must be white with the arrow pointing to the right. If it is yellow or red, then something is wrong. Most of the times WAMP has problems running along with a firewall, antivirus or Skype. In my case, I had ESET Smart Security (which acts as a firewall and antivirus) and Skype installed and got an error the first time I started WampServer, then the icon was yellow all the time. It was quite annoying and I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what’s wrong.
I’m going to save you a lot of time by telling you the solutions to these problems.

First, if you have ESET SS (quite a fitting name for its very strict firewall , turn the firewall and the antivirus off before starting WampServer for the first time by right-clicking on the tray icon, then clicking “Do not filter network traffic (Disable Firewall)” and “Disable Real-time file system protection”.

If you are really worried about your machine’s security, you may leave the file system protection online and disable only the firewall. It should work, but if it doesn’t, you have to disable the antivirus, too.
After doing that, start WampServer. If it gives no errors and the tray icon is white, then everything started correctly and should now work. You can re-enable ESET Smart Security, and the next time you start WampServer, you shouldn’t have to do this again.
To test if it’s working, open your favorite browser, type “localhost” (or http://localhost/) in the address bar and press “Enter”. You should see a test page describing WAMPServer (in my case it was a simple line of text inside an index file).

Now, if the tray icon is yellow AND you have Skype enabled, then WAMP conflicts with it. Here’s what you need to do:
Open Skype, go to Tools->Options->Advanced->Connection and uncheck the “Use port 80 and 443 as alternatives for incoming connections” checkbox. Skype will still work, but will not conflict with WampServer over those 2 ports.

Close Skype (and WAMPServer, of course) and start them again. Skype and Wamp should be now working perfectly together. You can also restart your machine and try starting them again to make sure they’ll really work in the future.
Now that everything works fine, you’ll need to make a copy of the website and the database. This is a simple matter of copying the files from the web server (all of them from “httpdocs” or “public_html”) to WampServer’s WWW folder (which is inside the installation folder, default is C:/wamp; or you can left-click on the tray icon and click “www directory” to open it).

I think you know how to transfer files from the server to your computer, so I won’t describe it in detail. Copying the database is accomplished with phpMyAdmin (left-click on WAMP tray icon, then click “phpMyAdmin”), which you need to know how to use. It is quite easy, but is beyond the scope of this article and you’ll have to use Google to find some instructions (just search for “how to export and import databases with phpMyAdmin”).

So there, now you know the tools used by professional developers to test their work and you won’t have to wait 10 minutes and inconvenience your site visitors just to test a change in the code of your site or web application.

FTP clients are indispensable tools nowadays, especially for web developers. We use them to transfer all kinds of files, including documents, scripts, web pages between our home and office computers and data center servers. The first clients were CLI (Command Line Interface) based, which made them unsuitable for 90% of the people, who were unable or unwilling to learn all the commands that were needed to operate them (which were like a language in their own right, and how many of you want or have the time to learn a new language?).

Then the GUI (Graphical User Interface) versions were developed, which helped ftp clients get to the number 1 spot in the file transfer category, and they are still there today, even though more advanced web interfaces & protocols are slowly taking over.
The drawback of most of those clients was that they were not free. You had to pay a per-user license fee, which could sometimes mean tens of thousands of dollars spent for small businesses (the enterprise sector was already spending millions getting licenses or developing their own tools).

Everything changed when open-source software (which is basically free software, like Linux, of which most of you heard) became more widespread, big companies started supporting the movement and its quality & functionality started being on par or even higher than paid solutions. Suddenly everyone had access to a big list of FTP client software, and a lot of developers started working on their own projects.

There are now hundreds of working FTP clients available, most of them abandoned, but the best ones are still free and being constantly developed. A lot of former paid software is now becoming free, too, which means users have free access to tools which used to cost $30 and more per license.

Now that you know a little bit of the history behind FTP clients, it’s time to see which ones are the absolute best. After testing more than 20 popular clients, I selected Filezilla, Fireftp and Bitkinex as the best based on functionality, usability, stability, performance and price (or to be more precise, the lack of it). All three of them are free, so it costs you nothing to try them out.
Most of the old clients were single-threaded or supported a limited number of concurrent connections (and as all the clients today are based on old code, this major drawback still exists). Cuteftp, Easyftp and even Filezilla & Fireftp support a maximum of 10 concurrent connections.

How does this affect you, the user?

In a most direct way, I’m afraid: the number of concurrent connections stands for the number of files that can be transferred at the same time, and as most web masters know, a web site or web-based software can contain thousands and tens of thousands of files, which take a loooong time to upload, regardless of your Internet connection speed (imagine having a 50Mbit/s connection and waiting half an hour for your site to upload .

Bitkinex is the only client I’ve seen that is free and supports up to 50 concurrent connections (though it used to cost $30 before 2009 and is not open source… yet).
Anyway, let’s get to the reviews:

First one up is Filezilla, which is the most popular cross-platform (runs on Linux, Windows and Mac OS), open-source FTP client. Everyone recommends it (and it is a good client), but it doesn’t differ much from other solutions (the only big difference is that it is open-source, which is very important, as all the bugs and security holes are found and removed fast, so it’s essentially trouble-free).

Unlike many other clients, it supports FTP over SSL/TLS (FTPS; essentially a simple FTP connection running through an encrypted channel) and SSH/SFTP (which is a totally different protocol that is used as a more secure method of connection; Filezilla uses the SFTP component from Putty, an utility which allows one to connect directly to a server and run any commands remotely).
It supports FXP transfers (direct transfers between 2 different FTP servers; without this, the file is first transferred to your computer, then to the other server, which limits the maximum speed to your internet connection speed), but it doesn’t support drag-n-drop from multiple instances of the program (useful when you want to easily copy a file from one ftp server to another), so it’s a little hard to copy or move files.
It has a nice feature called “Quickconnect” which stores all your previous connections information, so you don’t have to type the address, username and password every time you start the program. It is also sort of theme-able: you can change the icons used (not really a useful feature in a FTP client).

That’s about it for Filezilla, next up is Fireftp, which has become very popular in a short amount of time, and is quite a special case: it is an add-on for Mozilla Firefox (arguably the best browser available) which means it runs inside Firefox as a tab or new window.

I was quite impressed with it: it takes very little space, it seamlessly integrates with other web tasks (like administrating a website or a script) and it works without a glitch.
Functionality wise it’s is very similar to Filezilla, meaning it supports FTPS, SSH, 10 concurrent connections, multiple open connections, drag-n-drop, etc. It also has the Quickconnect feature and uses Putty’s SFTP implementation (which led me to believe it was created using Filezilla as a base).

Nothing else to say except that FireFTP is the best choice if you want a lightweight yet powerful FTP client.

Moving on, I’d like to present Bitkinex, the absolute best (in my opinion) free FTP/SSH client on the market. I’ve used it since 2007 and still haven’t found anything more powerful. Moreover, since the beginning of 2009, it is absolutely free (though I hope this doesn’t slow down or stop its development; I’d much rather pay $30 to use it and know for sure that they’ll make better versions in the future).

It is very similar to Filezilla and Fireftp, meaning it includes support for FTPS, SSH, Proxy and all other features that the other 2 have. In addition, it has support for http/https and WebDAV connections. What makes it really special is the excellent FXP support (direct server to server transfer), drag-n-drop functionality (you can do it between Windows Explorer and Bitkinex AND between 2 different FTP connections, which is very useful), the support for 50 simultaneous connections and a unique caching system which makes navigating directories much faster. It is very fast, using all of my available bandwidth (8Mbit/s download and 1Mb/s upload) at all times (even when uploading 20,000 files).

The interface is a little different from others, too. It has a main window with all your saved connections, and separate minimalistic windows for all your open server connections (kind of like Skype, MSN and other messengers). This is a very effective layout, as you can easily access all your sites and switch between them.

As a pleasant add-on, the resume/pause/restart functionality is very well implemented. You can close Bitkinex and shutdown your computer, and when you start the program again, it’ll ask what you want to do: resume, restart or cancel your transfers.
This is all I have to say about these 3 FTP clients individually. If I had to recommend any one of them for a particular purpose, I would say this: Bitkinex is the absolute champion in speed and usability, Fireftp is very lightweight, easy to install and use and gives you the least headache of all, and Filezilla is just a good all-around FTP client, with the advantage that it is open-source and is constantly developed.

But to really make a choice, you’ve got to try them out (they’re free, after all) and see which one you like the most.

If your children are hankering to learn the piano or keyboard and want to get a head start, or perhaps you don’t have a piano at home for them to practice on, this PC CDROM could be ideal.

This great interactive piece of software allows users to gain valuable tuition for learning all the major keyboard chords. Excellent 2D and 3D graphics highlight the keys of the keyboard, and the chords are represented both visually on screen and audibly. Additionally, it shows the correct fingers to use for each chord and as they’re played, you can hear whether they’re correct or incorrect.

The software can be used by those who’ve never played a keyboard before, as well as children wanting to gain extra insight, knowledge and confidence with their musical abilities. It’s best suited to those aged seven and over and offers good value for money.

Format PC CDROM
Idiqicon Ltd
Suitable for 7+
Expect to pay £4.99 – £8.99

Review by Rachel Newcombe