Which FTP program do you guys use? Do you recommend CuteFTP?

Which FTP program do you guys use? Do you recommend CuteFTP?

I love CuteFTP you know why? 1- It lets you save folder sessions 2- It has a built in code editor and it lets you edit and view files on the fly. 3- It has a backup functionaltity 4- you can sync folders if you like. Visit this page for more info…
http://wiki.myhosting.com/FTP_Client_setup

personally i prefer Filezilla

http://filezilla-project.org/

i use the file manager thingy that comes with my account should i be using an FTP program instead? is there a difference?

not really, but a FTP client probably has more features, like queues, also it it definitely quicker

I actually agree with SweedCheeks. You may not have access to your CuteFTP if you are in a friend's house etc. File Manager is a life saver then.

I have problems with the file manager occassionally - like when I try to zip and download my entire site it times out. I have to do it in pieces. I find it's easier to just download the whole site in my FTP program so I don't have to babysit it.

This might be happening because your site is too large. If it takes too long to zip the file, the script that's zipping the files will time out. If myhosting increased the timeout this would only cause performance problems on the server (too many processes running at the same time) - so that isn't an option either. Your only options in this case would be to zip a portion of your site at a time, use an FTP program to do the download, or do some garbage collection. (eg: Get rid of old files that you no longer need on the site.)

The zip/unzip function on file manager is for smaller zip files I am guessing, otherwise you risk timing out and that ain't cool. Besides, a FTP client is way faster.

for Mac I use cyberduck!