FTP Resources

Many types of resources are available via the Internet, from help guides and the entire text of books, to numerous space images from the Hubble Telescope, to many, many, shareware and freeware programs. Shareware is software that you can download and begin using immediately without paying any fee up front. However, if you want to continue using the software after the initial "trial" period (usually 30 days) you are legally required to pay the author according to the licensing agreement. While shareware and the Internet provide a great way to find inexpensive, high quality software, a word of caution must be given. Anybody, anywhere in the world can make software available relatively anonymously, and because of this, the Internet is a haven for those who wish to spread computer viruses. You should ONLY download software from reputable sites that have a procedure for scanning the software they make available and even then you should ALWAYS have at least one virus scanning software package running on your computer. Make sure that you know when your virus software scans for problems. Many DO NOT scan as files are being downloaded. Thus you would need to make a point of scanning downloaded files before using them. Many expert Internet users have two or three packages they scan with before installing any new software they download. Some users only download files to a floppy when possible and then scan the floppy before using any of the files.

For Windows and Windows 95 users, McAfee's Virus Scan package is highly recommended and available for download from the oak.oakland.edu ftp site listed in the sample sites below. Macintosh users would do well to get the newest version of Disinfectant from ftp://ftp.acns.nwu.edu/

Sample FTP Sites: Here are a few to explore:
Students for the Exploration and Development of Space
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Washington University, St. Louis
Oakland University

An index of over 100,000 shareware and freeware programs are available at http://www.shareware.com/. The database includes descriptions of the software and the filenames and is fully searchable. The index is not a central archive though, it only points you to where the software is stored so be sure to pay close attention from where you are actually downloading the software.

Activity:
1. Access one or more of the recommended FTP sites mentioned in this lesson and retrieve a ReadMe, index or other text file. If you are working with a group, post the file as a public message to your group members. Be sure to identify your posting as your Lesson 6 homework, and preface the posting with where you got the file and your evaluation of the ftp site.