14 DAY TRIAL // It seems that I didn't reach the bottom of the FTP clients? bucket, and so I?ve got to grab another good one to be reviewed today. If you're one of those who may be wondering "what's this FTP thing all about", then you should leave this review alone or, even better, get some info on the topic? there are lots of resources just one Google search away...
The toy that I have in my hands now is called FlashFXP and came to me as a trial version, labeled "3.4.0 Build 1145", with an installation package that has 3.9MB in size. Now I have to tell you some words about the setup process, because this is needed for the program that I have here.
The setup process offers you the freedom of choosing between full, compact and custom modes. Of course that my choice was the custom mode, so that I can tell you about the things you can choose. As usual, installing the program core files is compulsory, while the remaining items are the Help content; eleven additional languages, an Internet Explorer plugin and you can also associate FlashFXP with FTP and FQF files. After that, you have to choose the destination directory and check the disk space usage, choose the program's data folder, application shortcuts to be created, just a few more clicks and it's done - the 30 days trial period can begin!
Before everything else, I must say that this program has an excellent interface, highly customizable, easy to use and having an excellent icons set. Since the interface is something that you look at and that, in most cases, you start using right away, the features need a manual or some exploring. In this case, I'll be your guide for a while and show you the most useful tools available inside FlashFXP.
As far as I was able to notice, this program supports regular FTP connections and also secure ones via SSL. Its Site Manager is well done and easy to use, but the best part about it is the built-in content, composed of remote locations that you can connect to. Of course you can add as many new sites and categories as you like, and you don't need a manual to do this, I can tell you that!
FlashFXP fully supports drag and drop, and the good part about it is that you can transfer files using keyboard shortcuts. The bad part about the keyboard shortcuts is that you don't get the usual ones from Windows file managers or the old Norton Commander. Just two examples - F4 opens the Site Manager, while transfers are started with Ctrl+T instead of F5, as I consider normal.
The feature list is huge, and the download queue, logging, internal text editor or file filters are common things here. Let's see what else we have here...bookmarks, anti-idle (a function just like CuteFTP's Smart Keep Alive), clipboard monitoring and many, many more.
If you want something, then you should find it here. My road ends here and yours is just about to begin...but not before reading the conclusions!
The Good
FlashFXP is an excellent program with plenty of features, easy to use, reliable and well documented. The interface looks very good, and the price you have to pay for all that you get is only 25$!
The Bad
If I must find something bad about this program, then my only wish for the future is for it to be added all connection types that you can think of, including HTTP, HTTPS, SFTP and most of the others. Anyway, most users should be happy with good old FTP, so if I draw the line, there's nothing really wrong with this program.
The Truth
FlashFXP is one of the best deals that I have found on the FTP clients market. Of course that although this is an excellent program that sells for an excellent price, I'll remain faithful to my FileZilla. In the end, I strongly advise you to try this software; I am sure checking this out is worth your time. If FlashFXP is also worth your money, that's for you to decide.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
