File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is used to transfer large files all the time. But, what if you need to send a large file to a friend or family member? Not all of us have web servers we can use as a “staging area”. But, that doesn’t mean FTP cannot be used to connect right up to your friend’s PC.

There are programs out there which will turn your PC into an FTP server. If you use Windows NT/2000/XP, you may already have FTP server capability installed. If so, you would simply need to enable it. If not, you can install it from your Windows CD. Another option would be to install a third-party program such as Fastream NETFile FTP/Web Server. This will be necessary for the computer which will be serving the files. The PC which will be downloading the file will need a simply FTP client, and there are many of them out there freely available on the internet.

To connect, you need to find the IP address of the host computer. Faststream will tell you the IP address of your PC. Simply give that IP address to your friend and have them log into your PC. They can connect as an anonymous user. Once they are logged in, they will see your file (you specify the folder(s) they can view in Faststream) and they can download it.

Hopefully this is enough to get you started!