Vista - move files from one Windows computer to another over internet

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
"Spaz" <yea@right.com> wrote in message
news:3LudnZ8gO4svxQfbnZ2dnUVZ_hqdnZ2d@comcast.com...
> 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...

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" <yea@right.com> wrote in message
news:3LudnZ8gO4svxQfbnZ2dnUVZ_hqdnZ2d@comcast.com...
> 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...

Look at using ftp protocol.

http://www.ipswitch.com/

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"Spaz" wrote:
> 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...

Spaz wrote:
> 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...

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" <DSPatrick@nospam.gmail.com> wrote in message
news:92DC85F4-157B-480F-A6B2-E1FADAF03255@microsoft.com...
> Look at using ftp protocol.
>
> http://www.ipswitch.com/

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" <yea@right.com> wrote in message
news:t9idnSFER9IjEwfbnZ2dnUVZ_rignZ2d@comcast.com...
> "Dave Patrick" <DSPatrick@nospam.gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:92DC85F4-157B-480F-A6B2-E1FADAF03255@microsoft.com...
>> Look at using ftp protocol.
>>
>> http://www.ipswitch.com/
>
> 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?

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.or...P/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.php...position=22:22
http://winscp.net/eng/index.php

http://theillustratednetwork.mvps.or...P-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

Yes, you can expose your machine's file system to the public but not really
a good idea. ftp is quite simple to setup and offers an easier method to
security. http://www.ipswitch.com/products/ws_ftp/home/index.asp


--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"Spaz" wrote:
> 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?

"James Egan" <jegan@jegan.com> wrote in message
news:5g0nf4F3e8f1rU1@mid.individual.net...
>
> 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.

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.

something like;

\\192.168.10.100\MyPubFolder

(substitute your public ip address)


--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"Spaz" wrote:
> 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.