Well, you gotta know the server details, first of all the IP address, or, if existing, the alias (something like “nick.dyndns.org” or “nick.cjb.net”). If the server is private, as often it is, you’ll have to know the port it’s listening to (the standard one is 21, but you may find 22, 23, 59, 92, and so on… with all the numbers from 1024 to 65000) and the UserID/Password (the “Login”). Important: usually both UserID and Password are case sensitive, and preserve spaces, so if the password is “Polly Wanna Cracker” you gotta use exactly “Polly Wanna Cracker” and not “pollywannacracker”!!!

And how do you connect?

You need an “FTP Client”. If you don’t have it, and want to find a free one, just search on www.google.com for “free ftp client”. 2008 notice: the author now uses, and suggests, FileZilla, a very good free ftp client

Suppose you are connecting… after some messages like:

[04.35.51] Connected to xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx Port xx
[04.35.52] 220 Server ready ...
[04.35.52] USER XXXXXX
[04.35.52] 331 Password required
[04.35.52] PASS (hidden)
[04.35.52] 230 User logged in.
[04.35.52] SYST
[04.35.53] 215 UNIX Type: L8

you’ll start receiving the Directory Listing, and will be able to browse as it was Windows Explorer.

To download a file, usually it is sufficient to drag from where they are, to the near window, which represents your Hard Disk, and then you may need to press a button like “Go”, “Start”, “Transfer”, or search an entry like those in the menus.

To close, I’ll add a tutorial, based on FlashFXP (if you have CuteFTP, you may try as well this one, which is undoubtedly better).

Let’s suppose the server is at the address someone.cjb.net (so [FTP > Quick Connect], write someone.cjb.net near “Server:”), port 53627 (write 53627 near “Port:”), UserID equal to your current nick on IRC (if you are Joe^74 write Joe^74 near “User Name:”), and password This is a joke (what will you write? This is a joke near “Password:”, it is clear, since I told you to maintain letter cases and spaces; not of course thisisajoke, otherwise you didn’t understand a fig, so scram).

Finished? Good, then just press “Connect” and you’ll start:

[04.35.51] Connected to someone.cjb.net Port 53627
[04.35.52] 220 Server ready ...
[04.35.52] USER Joe^74
[04.35.52] 331 Password required
[04.35.52] PASS (hidden)
[04.35.52] 230 User logged in.
[04.35.52] SYST
[04.35.53] 215 UNIX Type: L8

and it’s all done.