Have you
ever wanted to share large music, video, or data files with friends, but
didn’t know how to setup a FTP server? If you want to quickly share
files with a more than one person, you either have to setup an FTP server
and give people access or you have to use online services like YouSendIt
that allow you to upload multiple files and send them to multiple people.
However, the
problem with sharing files using an FTP server is that you either have
to purchase space on a third party server and set it up yourself, which
requires some technical know-how or you need to set it up on your own computer,
which takes even more knowledge!
The problem
with services like YouSendIt is that it’s free, but with restrictions! You can
only send files that are up to 100MB in size and you have a 1GB monthly
download limit for all of your files. And each file can only be downloaded a
maximum of 100 times! So that’s not fun if you want to be able to share tons of
files with anyone at anytime!
HFS (HTTP File Server) is a cool free open-source
application that you can use to send and receive files for free! It allows you
to run your computer as a file server, but not just for your local network. It
has a web interface that lets you share files with anyone!
Since it
converts your computer into a file server, you don’t have to upload files to
any third party servers. It’s highly customizable and allows you to create
accounts, view current connections to your files, close/end connections,
control bandwidth usage, and lots more! It’s like a Windows Server File server
except that it’s free and works over the web!
The cool
thing is how easy it is to use! It’s simply one EXE file that you just run, no
need to install anything on your computer! Next just drag and drop the files
you want to share into HFS and you’re up and running your own file server.
All
connections can be monitored via a tray icon and you have full control over all
connections. You can specify the IP address and port number that you want the
file server to run on.
It has a ton
of options that you can configure, including the HTML template code, so you can
customize the look and feel of your file server.
You can
share just about anything on your computer and access the files remotely from
any other computer connected to the Internet. When accessing from outside of
your local network, you’ll need to make sure that you know your Public IP
address and configure your router to forward the listening port of HFS to the
computer where HFS is running.
You can
learn about forwarding ports on your router by going to http://www.portforward.com/.
As far as I know, HFS supports all Http browsers. This includes Internet
Explorer, Netscape, Opera, Maxthon, Netcaptor, Firefox and Safari.
You can set
security on the files you are sharing by right-clicking on a file and choosing
Set User/Pass. You can assign a user name and password so that whenever someone
tries to download it, they’ll have to enter in the credentials.
Also, you
can download only one file at a time, though in future versions they will
support downloading of entire folders or multiple files at once.
Overall,
it’s a great free file sharing program that is super easy to setup and that
works really well! Give it a shot if you’ve been looking for a free file
sharing program! Remember, though, you have to keep your computer on in order
for anyone to access the files (the only downside). Enjoy!
