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09/09: Giving Up On SmartFTP

For the past year or so I've been a happy user of SmartFTP for uploading and managing files on my servers. The interface was neat and familiar, and it was a good  tool to manage my domains with. For a free FTP program you would have to go some way to beat it.

Then, over the past week or so, I started having problems. The latest version, 2.5, suddenly began loading very slowly, until it was taking several minutes to initialize at all. A couple of days ago, it quit on me altogether.

I tried everything, starting with an uninstall and a fresh install from a new download. This was unsuccessful so I uninstalled again, ran a system wash with Windows Washer, followed by a full registry clean and error fix via Registry Mechanic. Installed again and got as far as the splash screen whereupon the program froze.

I headed to the forums and checked out the threads for possible fixes and thought I'd found the answer. I uninstalled again, but this time I went into the Registry and edited it manually, making sure I cleaned out every single reference to the program that the uninstall had left behind - my Registry Mechanic was not doing a thorough enough job. I re-install and the program starts. 'Great' I think and try to navigate to my local files - you guessed it, it freezes, so although I'd managed to connect to a remote server, I couldn't upload anything at all and no amount of rebooting or anything else made any difference.

I've finally given up. I don't have time to chase around forums looking for bug fixes on free software and if I was using the licensed version I guess I would have had to pursue it a lot further, but I'm disappointed because it was just one of those programs that was like an old friend and was, until now, very dependable. I'm not suggesting it's a bad program, I'm sure the problem could be resolved, but it just doesn't seem worth it when I can download and use something else that works. I need access to FTP every day.

I've installed FileZilla's FTP client and it's fine, if a little different to what I've been used to but I guess I'll get famliar with it in time. If anyone has any suggestions as to an even better free alternative I'm all ears.

With this and various other computer related hassles during the past two days I've not posted a couple of things I was lining up for this weekend. I hate losing time to technical trip wires and booby traps that always seem to come along in groups!

TCH

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Comments

A. Marques (Technology Corner) wrote:

SmartFTP has been my FTP software of choice for several years now. I haven't installed the new version but so far, no problems. Maybe I'll just stick to the version I have now instead of upgrading.
13/09 14:05:18

caymanhost wrote:

I'm not sure it was the upgrade that caused my problems - it worked for a while. I can only assume it was some other system change that caused the failure. Judging by comments made at the SmartFTP forums others have suffered similar behavior and not just those using version 2.5.

It's very odd and just proved too elusive for me to keep pursuing it.
14/09 18:18:25

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