The very purpose of the Internet and our interest in it is to share information or knowledge, free or sold, which can be transferred through emails, links or messages. But transferring this information can be tedious if it is in form of long texts, web pages, graphics, images or even music. This is where the FTP comes in. FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. It is a method of transferring data over a network or the Internet. It is quite like HTTP or Hypertext Transfer Protocol.

While in HTTP you need a web browser, the transfer of information through FTP requires a server and FTP client software like Bulletproof FTP, WSFTP, or CuteFTP. Most Web hosting businesses use FTP to allow their clients to upload the web pages to their servers. The client computers connect with the server to facilitate this transfer by uploading or downloading files.

One way to visualize an FTP site is by taking an example of your own computer, where you maintain directories of files and allow your clients to access them by using certain user IDs and passwords to prevent their misuse. The Internet browsers generally have built-in FTP clients, which you use to download the data. To do this, you simply need to enter the address of the FTP server into the address bar in the browser. In order to control the anonymous access to the database, FTP can use a DNS, or Domain Naming Service, by disabling the anonymous access.

You can enter your FTP address into the IE address field as you do in case of website addresses. But be careful to enter the ftp:// as prefix to the address, otherwise your browser may connect you to a website rather than an FTP server. After you have connected to the FTP site, you are presented with the data, text or images you are looking for. You can open files, copy and paste them, and if you have the permission, can manipulate them as you need.