AnswerMan 11/24/96 CJ Ellen: Good afternoon and welcome to the AnswerMan conference. Your host is the AnswerMan himself, Kevin Savetz. AnswerMan: Hi everyone! Hey Ellen. CJ Ellen : Each week the AnswerMan explains a different facet of the Internet. Today's topic is FTP. AnswerMan, what does that mean? :) AnswerMan: Well, lemme tell ya :) FTP is the Internet's file transfer protocol, a way of moving files around the Internet, and a good way to download shareware, free and public domain programs, art and other good stuff from public archives. FTP is pretty easy to use -- and its one of the Internet's oldest protocols. You can access these public archives from what are called "anonymous FTP sites," sites that allow anyone to connect and retrieve files-- e.g., you can get files from a computer that you don't have a regular account on. CJ Ellen: AnswerMan, we have our first question. It's from Border Run: Question: Can you tell me what software to use for FTP? AnswerMan: AOL has built-in software that lets you access FTP -- you can get there at Keyword (you guessed it) "FTP". Don't go there yet :). In the next few minutes we'll cover a lot of stuff you should know about FTP. Also, if you don't like AOL's FTP software for any reason, you can download and use other FTP client software. Now, this is more work to set up. I recommend you don't do this until you're a bit experienced with FTP. In short, Mac 3.0 users can use an alternate FTP client like Anarchie (www.stairways.com) and Windows users can go to Keyword: WINSOCK to get a special Winsock program that'll let you use an FTP client, like CuteFTP. AnswerMan: No matter what FTP program you use, built-in or not, you'll need to know about some good FTP sites -- places to download the sorts of programs that you're looking for. There are thousands of FTP sites out there. Some are much better than others. If you're a Mac user, try mac.archive.stanford.edu, where you'll find everything from games to utilities to how-to documents. If you do Windows, try the CICA archive at ftp://mirrors.aol.com/pub/cica or the PC Games archive at ftp://mirrors.aol.com/pub/pc_games. There are others which we'll cover later this hour. AnswerMan: You'll notice that I sometimes use a URL to denote an FTP site. This is important, and it gives a clue to another way you can access FTP -- one that you may like best of all: you can use the built-in FTP program at keyword FTP--or you can use your Web browser. You can access anonymous FTP sites right from AOL's Web browser. Same information, just a different interface. CJ Ellen: AnswerMan, we have another question. It's from MRS BEE51: Question: What about virus infection from FTP sites? AnswerMan: Good question! Files that you get from AOL's file archives have been checked for viruses, but that's not necessarily so for files that you get from the Internet. You *need* to check files for viruses before you run them, to protect your computer's data. You can get information about viruses and free virus protection programs for Mac and Windows at Keyword: VIRUS. AnswerMan: Any good questions, Ellen? :) CJ Ellen: Our next question is from xxxxyyy: Question: How do I unzip zip files? CJ Ellen: (I like those coordinates, BTW :) AnswerMan: Another good question. Many times, you'll find in FTP sites files whose names end in file. with extension, ".zip" have been compressed by software, ZIP, usually PKZIP. Zip files are often "bundles" of files, which simplifies downloading large applications that include many files (such as a program, its documentation, etc.), since they can be handled as a single file, then unpacked. You don't directly run zip files directly, you must unpack them first. (Virus check them after you unpack them...) AnswerMan: PKZIP is a legendary shareware product for creating and unpacking ZIP files. PKZ:V2.04g works with DOS and is available here or at Keyword: PKWARE. After you download it, create a directory on your PC called PKZIP and move PKZ204G.EXE from AOL25/DOWNLOAD (or wherever you told AOL to store the downloaded file) to the new directory. Finally, execute PKZ204G and it will unpack itself, "exploding" into a number of command and documentation files. AnswerMan: The two major commands included are PKZIP (used to compress/bundle files) and PKUNZIP (used to decompress and unbundle files). Although ZIP files are primarily used on DOS and Windows computers, Mac users can also create and unpack them using the shareware program, Mac ZipIt, available in the AOL file archives. CJ Ellen: MrCer asks: Question: When you receive files, do you have to go off AOL to read them? AnswerMan: When you download files, you'll find them in your AOL25/DOWNLOAD or AOL30/DOWNLOAD directory (Win) or the Online Downloads folder (Mac.) You don't HAVE to log out to use a file after you've downloaded it. You can just switch out of AOL, and work with the file. Of course, you're still online, so don't forget to switch back to AOL when you're done :) AnswerMan: FTP is great for getting files, but it's not always the best way to FIND files that you're looking for. For this, there are a number or Web sites that you can use that make searching for files easy & fun. I described some of these in last week's AnswerMan Newsletter (you can subscribe to it free at Keyword:ANSWERMAN) so I'll just give a brief rundown of these sites now: AnswerMan: First, there's shareware.com at the Web site (you guessed it) www.shareware.com. It's a very popular site where you can search for shareware, freeware and public domain software in all flavors of Windows, Mac, Amiga, DOS, OS/2, Unix, and more. You can also browse the most popular files, and find downloading tips and tools. A similar site at download.com. This one has fewer files but is a little more user-friendly than shareware.com. AnswerMan: Mac mavens know that the Info-Mac FTP archive is one of the finest collections of Macintosh software available on the Net. But the archive is difficult to search. MIT's Info-Mac HyperArchive solves both these problems--it's a fast, searchable index of the files and abstracts on the archive, combined with a complete mirror of the overloaded Info-Mac site. Looking for a game? Type in "card game" to see nearly 20 choices. Click on one to see a brief description--if it sounds good, another click: will download it right to your Mac. You can also search the archive by subject (such as education and fonts) or check out the most recent additions. The site couldn't be easier to use, and is a must for anyone looking to score some Mac software. It's at http://hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/HyperArchive.html. AnswerMan: The TUCOWS archive site at http://www.tucows.com/ is one of the most popular sites on the Internet for shareware. Here you can search for Win95, Windows 3, or Macintosh software. The site is pleasing to the eye and to your sense of humor. The files are rated -- those with the most "cows" are the most popular. If you don't know what you are looking for you can just click on the appropriate operating system and get a complete listing of all the available files by category. AnswerMan: Categories include anti-virus scanners, HTML editors, stock quotes, utilities, audio applications, image viewers, Internet tools...and many more! Tucows is a very easy site to navigate and offers many "mirror sites" (sites that are duplicates of the original but may be closer to you or less busy). Again, these last sites are reachable via the Web -- NOT FTP. Even though they get you to files, they use a Web interface to do it. AnswerMan: Eager to learn the intricacies of FTP? Check out "Life on the Internet--FTP", a web page with almost everything you'd ever want to know and links to just about everywhere you'd want to go related to FTP. Located at http://www.cochran.com/understand/ftp.html, this site has links for novice and power users on either the Mac or Windows platform. CJ Ellen: AnswerMan, this is all very interesting, but tell me, where can I(we) find great shareware, freeware, and public domain software? How about clip art? AnswerMan: Ellen, Ellen, Ellen :) that depends on what you're looking for. If you're looking for something specific and you don't know where to go, or you just want to browse for something yummy to download, I recommend you should start with shareware.com or download.com. There the files have nice descriptions you can read before downloading, and simple interfaces. CJ Ellen: Here's another question from MRS BEES51: Question: Could you give us some tips on speeding up the download process and things to look out for that slow down the process? AnswerMan: Many of the files that you'll get from the Internet are big, and can take a long time to download. Check the size of a file before you download it -- that way, you'll be able to estimate how long it will take. Other than that, there is not a lot you can do other than making sure you are using the fastest access number that your modem can handle. You can't scrimp on a download -- you need the whole file it you expect it to work properly. CJ Ellen: AnswerMan, what speed modem would you recommend for FTP? AnswerMan: If you can afford it, or can ask Santa/your boss/whoever for it, I recommend a 28.8 KBPS modem or even a 33.6 KBPS one -- that will make FTP and the Web as fast as most of us can affordably make it go. 28.8 is pretty fast for most purposes :) CJ Ellen: Great! Well, looks like we're out of time for this week. AnswerMan: If you have more questions about FTP and FTP sites, go to Keyword: AM FOCUS -- and for other questions about the Internet, check out Keyword: ANSWERMAN. If you missed any part of this chat, a complete transcript will be available in a couple of days at keyword AM CHAT. :) Thank you all for coming! Next week, I'll be here talking about Internet sites about travel. Hope to see you then. CJ Ellen: Good night, everyone. Copyright 1996 America Online, Inc. All Rights Reserved.