Accessing files

[Blue_Gundam2002]

I have dsl so my computer is online all the time. Is there anyway for me to access files on my computer when I'm at another computer that is not part of my home network? Like at my freinds house.

[hobey19]

yeah, there is. who is your dsl provider and do you know if you have static ip or dynamic ip address? once you know this, it will make it easy to decide how you want to do it. do you want to be able to view the desktop and control your computer like you would be sitting in front of it, or just access the file?

craig

edit: i guess the provider doesn't really matter, just if you know if it is static/dynamic. probably the easiest would be to do ftp. if you are behind a router, you would have to set up port forwarding for port 21 and set up an ftp server on your computer. hope that helps

[Blue_Gundam2002]

Originally posted by hobey19
yeah, there is. who is your dsl provider and do you know if you have static ip or dynamic ip address? once you know this, it will make it easy to decide how you want to do it. do you want to be able to view the desktop and control your computer like you would be sitting in front of it, or just access the file?

craig
SBC Yahoo is my provider. I'm not sure if I have a static or dynamic ip adress, how do I find out?
Mainly just to access files but being able to view the desktop would be cool.

[hobey19]

well then, if you have sbc yahoo then chances are you have dynamic. i have ameritech, which is part of sbc yahoo and all of the sbc's i have setup in this area have been dynamic. other than going to www.whatismyip.com one day and then checking it the next, i really don't know how to check that, but someone might.

craig

[Blue_Gundam2002]

Originally posted by hobey19
well then, if you have sbc yahoo then chances are you have dynamic. i have ameritech, which is part of sbc yahoo and all of the sbc's i have setup in this area have been dynamic. other than going to www.whatismyip.com one day and then checking it the next, i really don't know how to check that, but someone might.

craig
whats the difference between dynamic and static?
After I figure out what type of IP address I have what do I do?

[hobey19]

static ip stays the same(ie ur ip address is xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx every single day all the time) but dynamic will give you xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx one day and xxy.xyx.xyy.yyx the next day. not a great analogy but i think that you can get it. basically, static stays the same and dynamic changes from day to day (depending on the lease time). i have dynamic, and it is kinda hard because i copy my wan ip down every morning before leaving, and then ftp in from wherever. but if internet goes down, it is possible that i will have a new ip, ergo making it impossible to get into the computer. kind of a bummer, but you learn to live with it. i am looking to upgrade my account so i can have static ip, but it is almost double the price (but speed is doubled to, becuase it is the small business account).

craig

[hobey19]

well you will need a ftp server on your computer and then ftp software on the computer you will be on. if nothing else, the command prompt one will work. you give the server a user name and password and set up what privileges the user can have on the system. multiple users = multiple privileges (if you log in, you can do anything, but your friend logs in and he an only download file from a specific folder). i like bulletproof ftp, but ws_ftp just released a server that is really good. go to download.com and you can try em out. i think there may be some free ones, but i have only used those two. once you go to your friends computer, you just type in your ip, user name and password and you are all set. hope that helps

craig

[Blue_Gundam2002]

Originally posted by hobey19
the command prompt one will work.
What do you mean by command prompt? Do you mean I could use a DOS window to get the files, after I set up the server?

[hobey19]

exatly. go into the command prompt and type ftp. then type help. there are all of the commands. just type open xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx for your ip address. it will ask your user name and password. then you just use the get command then the filename to download and put filename to upload. primitive, but an easy alternative if there are no ftp programs on the computer

craig

[Blue_Gundam2002]

Do you know if there is any FTP software that will run off of a floppy or a cd?

[glc]

WS-FTP LE is free and the install fits on a floppy, it won't run off it though.

War FTP Daemon is a good free server.

[spyder003]

you could also use a remote admin tool such as this http://www.bo2k.com

[Blue_Gundam2002]

The server I have already installed and have running. My problem now is finding a FTP software to use on the other computers. I want something that runs on a disk because I can't always install software on the other computer. I tried to do it useing DOS. But when I got the part were you type in get, and it asks you for remote file and local file I'm not sure what to put. Can someone help me out here.

[Blue_Gundam2002]

Ok, to download the file I type:
get test.exe
after that it says 200 port command successful.
I search the directory that it was suposed to download to and it wasn't there. What am I doing wrong?

[glc]

It downloads to the directory that you were in when you typed FTP. If you were at a straight C:\> prompt, that's exactly where it's at.

[hobey19]

no if you are in xp, it automatically puts it in the users folder (ie C:\Documents and Settings\User\) just search for test.exe and you should find it. i remember that it took me a while to find it the first time i tried

craig

[glc]

If you change directories at the command prompt before you start ftp, the file will go there - I'm 90% sure. Search - if you can stand using XP's crappy search facility.

[Blue_Gundam2002]

I'm useing 98se not XP.
I'm going to try again on tuesday during my club meeting at school. I'm the secretary of the Computer Guru Club, I didn't choose the name, the faculty sponser is the school's computer network technician, he should be able to help me. I'm probably over looking something and thats why its not working.

[glc]

98SE is easy, just open a dos box, cd to whatever directory you want the received file to go to, then type ftp and do what you did.

[Blue_Gundam2002]

LOL, i'm such a moron. The file I was trying to get was called test.txt, I kept typing test.exe. It worked when I put in the right file name.