BleepingComputer.com: Question About Ftp

I have a question regarding FTP downloads......I had an issue where I was trying to download a software upgrade from a site that utilizes FTP but I had no success in connecting. Originally I assumed firewall issues and although I have not completely exhausted that avenue, I'm not sure that is it as I disable my firewall and still no go. I did some searching on google last night and came up with some hits concerning IE7 (which I have) not interfacing well with FTP. Some of the stuff I read was over my head so maybe I'm just not doing it correctly. However, between what I read on Google and the tutorial on here. I read that there is "FTP client" software. My question is are these FTP Clients a utility that are suppose to work with your browser or are they stand alone products that allow you to connect to the FTP site AND also manage your down load. Any info about this and any incite to this possible conflict between IE7 and FTP would be appreciated.......thanks

Some work with your browser, some are stand alone, some are even built into Windows.

I fiddled around with FTP for a while a year or so ago - and found it to be a bit to "finicky" for my tastes - so I abandoned it in favor of other protocols. But, my favorite program was a little freeware app called WS_FTP LE. You can download the last freeware version from here: http://www.freewarearena.com/html/Download...ails/id=70.html

As far as I know there are no plugins for IE7 for FTP support. I have be using the Firefox plugin, FireFTP, since last November. I fined it clean and light. It is also very basic. It sits in the Tool tab in FireFox, so in is very convenient when time to use.
There are many stand alone FTP clients. I like and use FTP Surfer.
If you are going to use it for basic services I would use FireFox with the FireFTP plugin.

Thanks usasma and acklan for your suggestions. After some more reading, I think your right about the finicky part, but I'm to stubborn to give up yet. I want to give those programs a try and see how they work....Thanks again, Bill