TC said:
Shenan Stanley wrote ...
I simply want a secure way to transfer files from my desktop to someone
else.
And you were answered for how *you* asked to do that file transfer - by
using FTP. You got a response that matched your question.
So are you going to go through the process of getting a server
certificate so you can do secure file transfers to/from your own host?
If you don't have a server cert, you can't do secure connects using FTP
or a web server. Are you going to allow anonymous connections to your
FTP server by anyone that wants to poke around, or are you going to
manage a list of usersnames/passwords that are allowed to login?
While many applications may boast of security, I wrote newsgroups in the
hope that someone would know which solutions actually are ...
No, you wrote newsgroups asking about how to use FTP.
or that someone
has actually done exactly what I want to do and came make sound
recommendations.
Then that is what you should have asked. Other methods (of using online
storage), all free:
http://www.adrive.com/ (50GB max quota, 2GB max file size)
http://www.driveway.com/ (500MB max file size)
http://www.filefactory.com/ (300MB max file size)
http://www.megashares.com/index.php (10GB max file size)
http://www.rapidupload.com/ (300MB max file size)
http://www.sendspace.com/ (300MB max file size)
http://www.spread-it.com/ (500MB max file size)
http://www.transferbigfiles.com/ (1GB max file size)
http://zshare.net/ (500MB max file size)
http://www.zupload.com/ (500MB max file size)
Some just share a file. Some let you manage your files to determine
which ones you share and which you don't. To share, you get a URL to
give the other person. Some require establishing an account (free)
while some don't require any registration to use them. You'll have to
read their own web pages to see if they provide secure (SSL) file
transfers. However, that's irrelevant. Even if they do secure file
transfers because you don't want someone sniffing your traffic, are you
then going to trust a 3rd party with your sensitive data? No, so you
had better encrypt the file before you save it somewhere that you don't
control.
If you have a specific host that you want to allow to connect to yours,
look into remote control software that includes file transfer.
TeamViewer is free for personal use. LogMeIn Free does not include file
transfer but their paid version does. You never bothered to mention if
you are only looking at freebie solutions. Remote Desktop Protocol
(RDP) is included in Windows (or can be added with a download from
Microsoft) to run as a server on your own host (you'll have to punch out
port 3389 through your firewall or router) and you can configure the RDP
client to include drives from your local host to use on your remote
host. Since you probably have a dynamic IP address for your host (or
the WAN-side of your router), and if you don't want to figure out what
it is to connect to it, look at DynDNS or No-IP.org on how to get an IP
name for your host (also free). You'll run their client that reports to
their service for your account as to what is your current dynamic IP
address and they give you an IP name to associate with it. You don't
need DynDNS or No-IP with LogMeIn or TeamViewer and you usually don't
need to do any firewall or router configuration due to how they work
(but you might need to define an app rule for their client when prompted
by your firewall - if your firewall enforces outbound app rules).
Obviously remote access solutions are for when you want to let someone
else share your host (or when you need access to theirs to help them)
that includes file transfer. Otherwise, look at using online file
storage. I've listed some above. Another choice would be to use the
disk space for the personal web page space that your own ISP allocates
to your account with them, then just send a URL to the file in your web
page space to the other person.
You'll find a lot of options just by Googling for online disk storage
space, like:
http://www.google.com/search?q=+free++online++disk++storage