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Introduction

Like all my how-to tutorials, they will have been designed to help the complete beginner (namly the family members).

Ever heard the saying its better when its free? Well, in the cyberworld of the internet, and computer land, free software doens't always mean free. Nor does it mean its better. There are, however, a few little gems out there that are free and are better. These aren't usually for the beginner though. Windows has almost always come with a free FTP program, although for the normal user it wasn't very good. It was a text based program and you had to type the commands in manually with not much help. Few people used it as it required you to type each file name in full. Very time consuming when you have 50 or more pictures of your latest and greatest adventure.

OK fast-forward today, people are running Windows XP, the best OS Microsoft has ever made (So Microsoft tell us). Microsoft have now included a visual FTP program in Windows XP but many people don't use it, many don't even know its there. Its a shame because its quite a good FTP program as well, for beginners anyway. The best part though, is that it acts just like part of the windows file system, so you can drag and drop your pictures and websites just like you do on your harddisk drive.

Right, So lets make use of this hidden FTP program Windows XP has to offer..

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Getting started

The first thing you need to know is your ntl username and password to access your FTP & Web space. The username is usually the same as the primary email account with your ntlworld. The password will be the same as when you first created the account. So if you've changed the email password you'll need to remember the old password.

If you can't remember the password or even if you can't/don't know the username you can call ntl customer support on 151 (its a free number) using your ntl land line. They'll give you all the information you need. top

Creating A Network Place

The first thing we need to do is create a some where so that you can access your FTP. We'll do this now, click the start button and then click on My Documents. The My Documents folder will now be down in its own window.

On the left there is Other Places. Click the My Network Places link.

You should now be taken to the Network Places. This is where you can connect to other Computers on the internet. If you're on a LAN you may already have other items already there, you can ignore them, but for most people you won't see anything at the moment.

Now we need to add a place so you can connect to your ntl FTP webspace. Do this by clicking the Add a network place from the Network Tasks on the left.

An Add Network Place Wizard dialog box will now open. It will ask you a few simple questions. You should have your username and password ready as you will need to enter it.

Click Next to start the Wizard.

After a few seconds of searching for service providers you'll be presended with a list. This list will have at least one item and for many people should only see the one item. Its Choose another network location, so you'll need to click on that and then click Next.

You're now asked to enter the Internet or network address. You must type this in correctly, we need to type in the ntl ftp addesss, use copy and paste if you know how. The address you will need to type in is as follows:

ftp://upload.ntlworld.com/

Once you've typed that in and made sure its correct and then click Next.

You now need to make sure you log on with your username and password. At the moment you'll notice the 'Log on anonymously' is ticked. You need to untick it. You'll then need to type in your username (the first part of your email only) into the user name box. For example, my username is bininside. Make sure you've typed in your username correctly and click Next.

You'll now be asked to give your network place a name. upload.ntlworld.com is fine and you can rename it later if you want to. Click Next.

You are now at the end of the Add Network Place Wizard. Click Finish.

Once you've clicked finish. Windows will try to connect to the ntl FTP server using the username you typed in. The ntl ftp server will require a password so Windows will ask you for a password. Type your password in and make sure you type it correctly. If you don't want to have to type the password in every 5 minutes of not using the FTP you can tick the Save password box.

If all goes well, you will have entered your username and password correctly and you'll now be looking at the files on the FTP for your website. If this is the first time you've used your website then you won't have any files there.

As you can see I have been busy using my website and it has quite a few files and folders. These files now act as if there are on your harddisk but they will be a lot slower so its a good idea to work with files saved on your harddisk and then copy them over to your FTP site when you've finished with them.

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Using the FTP

You should now have the Network Place setup and you can connect to it using your username password, but how do you use it? Its very simple and heres how.

First off all, you need to do goto My Douments folder. Click the Start button and then click My Documents. You'll then be looking at your My Documents Window again.

Click on the My Network Paces like we did before and you should now see that you have a new icon there. If you didn't give it a name and left it as default you'll see it as upload.ntlworld.com otherwise you'll see it as what ever name you give it. At this point, if you want to, you can click on it and press the F2 key on your keyboard to rename it. You can then type in a new name and press return.

To access your files so you can drag and drop them, you can click the Folders button in the tool bar. The network place you addded now acts just like a folder. You can drag and drop files in it, move files around. You can even Save files direct to it from other programs such as Microsoft Word.

Hopfuly you now get an idea of how to use the simple FTP program Windows XP offers. As you become more advanced, you may want to try other ways of getting Windows.

If you have any problems or would like further help you can try the ntl newsgroups. Like all my tutorials I can't help you on a 1-to-1 as these are designed for famaily use, but please feel free if you have any comments or sugestions to contact me.

Last updated: 24/08/2003