move files from one Windows computer to another over internet

  • Thread starter Thread starter Spaz
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Spaz

Does Windows have a program that will allow you to move files from one
Windows computer to another over the internet? I exchange video files with
people over Yahoo messenger but that's really slow. Is there a better way
to do a direct transfer? You'd think Windows would be able to do this. I
have a fast cable internet connection at home and my friends have cable or
dsl.

Thanks...
 
Note: ADSL has an upload and a download speed. The upload is quite a lot
slower, try divide by 10.
How big are the files?
What do you mean by slow? Are you comparing with a wired network connection?
Typical wired connection speeds currently are 100mbps, that's 100 mega bits
per second, roughly divide by 10 for a figure in bytes per second. (Gigabit
network cards are coming in). Compare with your internet connection speed. I
have just managed to get an upgrade to 7500kbps download, 488kbps upload.
This gives me a theoretical upload speed of approximately 0.488% of the
wired network transfer speed.
Incidentally, these figures are the same regardless of the operating system.
Regards
Dave
 
Does your Internet Service provider offer you "personal web space" (usually
via ftp). Check with their web site or talk to them on the phone as to how
to set this up. Once set up, you can upload your files to the ftp site,
using Windows Explorer or another ftp client, and your friends can download
them via http.
 
Spaz said:
Does Windows have a program that will allow you to move files from one
Windows computer to another over the internet? I exchange video files
with people over Yahoo messenger but that's really slow. Is there a
better way to do a direct transfer? You'd think Windows would be able
to do this. I have a fast cable internet connection at home and my
friends have cable or dsl.

Thanks...
Click to expand...

There are several ways. FTP would be the fastest. XP Pro comes with a
limited IIS (Internet Information Services) that'll allow you to set up
an ftp server. There's also VPN. XP Pro also allows you to set up a VPN
server. To set up an FTP server, you will need to install IIS from
"Add/Remove Windows Components" which is available from the "Add or
Remove Programs" applet in Control Panel. To set up a VPN server, you
run the "New Connection Wizard" from the "Network Connections" applet in
Control Panel. There are also third party options for both of these.

But... (you knew there was a but)
FTP is not secure (neither is email for the most part). It is faster
than other TCP protocols because it has minimal overhead, but
transferring files directly still can't go faster than the slowest
Internet connection speed, or overcome congestion en route. If you have
1 meg DSL and the other end of your connection is uploading to you from
a 256 Meg connection, you will only get 256 Meg transfer speed (at
best). A VPN Connection is secure, but adds encryption/decryption into
the mix which further slows things down. Before bothering with any of
that, you should check your transfer rate from Yahoo. Just time the
download, look at the size of the file you just downloaded, and divide
the filesize by the number of seconds it took to get it. Then multiply
that by 1.15 (To allow for 15% TCP overhead) and that should give you
pretty good estimate of your actual bitrate. If it's way off your
typical rate from other fast sites (Microsoft, Symantec, etc.) there may
be a big advantage to doing it that way. If this is something that you
need to do on a whim, a direct connection will certainly eliminate the
"double-transfer" time.

There are numerous articles on setting up ftp or vpn. Google.

....kurt
 
Dave Patrick said:
Look at using ftp protocol.

http://www.ipswitch.com/
Click to expand...

I wasn't really looking for anything that elaborate, but thanks anyway. Ya,
I've been searching for how to share files between me and my friends on the
internet with minimal overhead. I've seen all the commercial programs but
I've heard you can do it simply through Windows Explorer (not talking about
Internet Explorer). I have my public folder set up but I just need to
figure out how someone else on the internet can bring up Windows Explorer,
view my public folder, and transfer files.

With Windows Vista, Microsoft gives an example of opening their public
folder with Windows Explorer. Simply open Windows Explorer, go to the
address bar and type ftp://ftp.microsoft.com. This adds Microsoft's public
download folder to your folders in Windows Explorer. If I could do this
with my friends on the internet, transferring large files would be SO much
easier! Can I give other people this kind of access to my public folder
over a cable internet connection without buying extra software?
 
Spaz said:
I wasn't really looking for anything that elaborate, but thanks anyway.
Ya, I've been searching for how to share files between me and my friends
on the internet with minimal overhead. I've seen all the commercial
programs but I've heard you can do it simply through Windows Explorer (not
talking about Internet Explorer). I have my public folder set up but I
just need to figure out how someone else on the internet can bring up
Windows Explorer, view my public folder, and transfer files.

With Windows Vista, Microsoft gives an example of opening their public
folder with Windows Explorer. Simply open Windows Explorer, go to the
address bar and type ftp://ftp.microsoft.com. This adds Microsoft's
public download folder to your folders in Windows Explorer. If I could do
this with my friends on the internet, transferring large files would be SO
much easier! Can I give other people this kind of access to my public
folder over a cable internet connection without buying extra software?
Click to expand...

FTP is insecure...

Personally I recommend a VPN or Secure Shell (SSH) tunnel which provide an
encrypted data link. Here is an example VPN using the built-in PPTP VPN
function...

http://theillustratednetwork.mvps.org/Vista/PPTP/PPTPVPN.html

Use a *STRONG* password...

You can also setup a SSH server and use a program like WinSCP. SSH allows
the use of a private/public key pair for strong authentication versus a
password only (strong or otherwise). I recommend the copSSH package on the
server.

http://theillustratednetwork.mvps.org/Ssh/SSHLAN.html

http://www.itefix.no/phpws/index.ph...er_op=view_page&PAGE_id=12&MMN_position=22:22
http://winscp.net/eng/index.php

http://theillustratednetwork.mvps.org/Ssh/copSSH-WinSCP-KeyPair.html

--

Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows Networking)

Please post *ALL* questions and replies to the news group for the
mutual benefit of all of us...
The MS-MVP Program - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights...
How to ask a question
http://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375
 
James Egan said:
You can drag and drop using windows explorer if you like. Setting up
file sharing over the Intenet is no different than setting up local
file sharing but you need to take measures to ensure that the file
sharing connection is limited (firewall etc.) to those you can trust
unless you want all and sundry screwing up your computer.

If you use a router, you will need to configure it to let the
appropriate traffic through.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I think I have it set up to share my public folder, but how do I
access it from another computer over the internet? I don't run a website so
I don't have a website address to type in to Windows Explorer.
 
Dave Patrick said:
something like;

\\192.168.10.100\MyPubFolder
Click to expand...

Thanks. I gave that a try from several locations but couldn't get it to
work at all. They can get a return ping on my address but that's all.
Can't connect to the folder. I turned off the firewall and made sure the
public folder was shared, not sure what else I can do. Have you tried doing
this?
 
Ok bud, we can get this resolved very easily.

Now that you have Vista setup to accept VPN tunels, you have to make sure
you computer is reachable from the outside (internet). I will take into
belief that you are using some kind of router in your home since users can
ping your public IP but they are not able to connect it means that the router
(Cable/DSL modem) is responding to the ping, not your computer.

Tell me more about your network configuration; what kind of internet service
you have, if it is a Cable or DSL modem, are they connected directly into
your computer or do you have a small network at home, etc.

Usually all broadband access performs a NAT from your computer to the
internet; this is to prevent having your computer a public IP exposed to the
world at all times, and also to provide internet access to more than 1
computer; this also provides you security since the router usually have a
firewall.

Internet --> (Public IP) DSL/Cable Modem (Private IP) --> Home-Computers

If you are a techie, go to your router configurations and make sure that the
port used by Vista VPN is being "redirected" or "forwarded" to the LAN IP of
your computer which should be something like 192.x.x.x

You do NOT need to turn off your firewall to do this.

Like I said, tell me the details on your internet connection and your IP
configuration in your computer and/or network and I can tell you how to
finish the configuration for you to share the folder.
 
TheBoss said:
Ok bud, we can get this resolved very easily.

Now that you have Vista setup to accept VPN tunels, you have to make sure
you computer is reachable from the outside (internet). I will take into
belief that you are using some kind of router in your home since users can
ping your public IP but they are not able to connect it means that the
router
(Cable/DSL modem) is responding to the ping, not your computer.

Tell me more about your network configuration; what kind of internet
service
you have, if it is a Cable or DSL modem, are they connected directly into
your computer or do you have a small network at home, etc.
Click to expand...

I have Comcast cable internet. The comcast cable goes into a Motorola
SB5100 Surfboard Cable Modem and then an ethernet cable goes from the modem
to my computer. No router and no other computers are connected. I'm using
IPv4 and File Sharing protocols only, all others are disabled. I don't have
any kind of VPN settings configured that I know of.
 
I need help importing files from Outlook Express to Windows Mail. I keep
getting the message POP3 not responding, and when I try to get to Outlook, I
don't know what file extensions to use. HELP
 
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