Making the switch to Linux, even part-time, can feel like a bit of a shock to the system. Doc helps to ease the transition by rounding up his 10 favorite Linux apps that are free for the download. This week, we look at one through five and in next week's show, Doc rounds it out with numbers six through 10.

You expect and

FTP client

to be able to

upload and download files

. You expect it to be able to connect to a variety of different Web servers. FileZilla does all those things and gives you some nice extras that you soon won't want to do without.

Having the ability to

transfer files from computer to FTP server

or vice-versa is great. Wouldn't it be nice if you could just edit a file that's on the FTP server though, without having to download it? With FileZilla that's not a problem. You can

view graphics files and edit text files right on your FTP server

. One very useful touch, especially for

updating your personal web site

is that you can save your changes directly to the remote file, sitting on the

FTP server

.

When you're dealing with files on your local computer and your

remote FTP site

, you want to be able to transfer files quickly. You also want to make sure that the files you're transferring are indeed the correct files. FileZilla makes

managing file transfers

easy by giving you the ability to compare files in multiple directories to look for changes.

Once you understand

how to use FTP

, it won't be long before you have several

FTP sites

that you regularly connect to. FileZilla makes it easy to

manage multiple FTP logins

with its easy to use

Site Manager

interface.

Your Internet service provider (ISP) probably offers you a bit of space on the web for your own

personal web site

. Perhaps you already have your web site created and sitting on your computer.

how do you transfer the files to your web space

though?

FTP or File Transfer Protocol

is the answer and FileZilla is arguable the

best free FTP client

for the job. FTP is also useful for

sharing files between remote computers

and a host of other file transfer jobs.

Have you created your Web site and now you need to get all
the files up on your domain? Made changes to your existing site and want
to get those changes uploaded? Whenever you need to do something with
your Web site you'll want to use an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) client
like FileZilla!

FTP or File Transfer Protocol

is a quick and, once you understand the basics, easy way to

transfer files to your web site host

,

share large files

between co-workers and much more.

FileZilla

is an excellent and (perhaps best of all)

free FTP client available for Mac, PC and Linux.