If this operation does not happen, you may have residual settings (from Internet Explorer) on your computer which are handing the FTP operation off to another application. If you are having problem or wish to change this, you must either download a third party preference panel called RCDefaultApp or open Internet Explorer and change the preferences there.




I. Opening the FTP link

You'll receive a link from ProComm in your email. When you click that link, your e-mail client should hand this request off to the Finder and mount a volume on your desktop. Your link will look something like this:

ftp://sample:123456789@144.228.88.106

Note: Quite a few email clients display your messages in a window with two panes. The upper pane shows the list of messages in your Inbox and the lower pane is a preview of the message selected. If you double click a message in the upper pane, it will open in its own window. Some email clients will only let you launch links from this view and not from the preview pane. Likewise, these same clients will also prohibit selection of text or copying of test in the preview pane.

If double-clicking on the link fails, highlight or select the entire link and copy it. Now switch to the Finder, go to the Finder's "Go" menu and select "Connect to Server." Paste the link into the Server Address field

Make sure you copy the link as it appears above without any > or < symbols your email client may have added. Again, if you are unable to highlight the text in order to copy it, you might not have opened the email in its own window. Double click the email to open it.

II. Mac OS-X default FTP helper application

Safari follows an OS-X system preference regarding the action taken when a FTP link is clicked. This preference stipulates which application handles the action of opening an FTP site. As strange as it might sound, Apple provides no way to change the default helper application for the FTP protocol. It is set to the Finder and without a third party application like Internet Explorer or RCDefaultApp, one cannot change how a Mac opens an FTP link. If you are having trouble with the Finder accessing our FTP site, or if you wish to change the default FTP helper application to something else, you may follow the instructions below. You must have Internet Explorer on your Mac to make these changes. And while IE for Mac is deprecated, you may still download it and run it.

1. Open Interet Explorer
2. From the Explorer Menu, select Preferences...
3. In the Internet Explorer Preferences left pane, scroll down to the Network disclosure triangle and highlight Protocol Helpers

4. In the right pane you should see a list of protocols and their associated Applications. Click the word Protocol above the list to sort the list of protocols alphabetically. Highlight ftp (about 7 or 8 down.)
5. If your computer has residual setting from a previous application installation, the helper application on the right column for FTP might have been set to something no longer installed on your Mac or perhaps it is set to something you wish to alter. By default, it is set to Finder. Internet Explorer works well as a FTP client even allowing folder level downloads (particularly handy if you are downloading quite a few files) but you may choose any application you wish to start when you click an FTP link. Remember, you cannot choose Safari as it is incapable of listing an FTP site. If the current setting is Finder and you are having trouble accessing our site this way, try selecting Internet Explorer itself. To do this, highlight the ftp line and click Change.
6. In the resultant window,

click CHOOSE HELPER and locate the application (either Internet Explorer or even an ftp client like Fetch or Vicom FTP Client) on your hard drive. Click OK and then close the Internet Explorer preferences.

III. ftp and firewall settings

Depending on how your computer or network connects to the Internet and which firewalls --- either software or hardware --- are used to protect that connection, an ftp connection might fail in on your Mac. If your Mac fails to connect or it gets stuck "Getting File List", you might want to toggle the FTP mode in which it operates. In most cases, Passive Mode is best but if you're having problems:

1. Go to APPLE MENU:SYSTEM PREFERENCES
2. Click on the Network icon.
3. Make sure you have the proper Location selected

4. Click the Proxies Tab and toggle the "Use Passive FTP Mode (PASV) check box from its current setting.
5. Click Apply Now and Quit the System Preferences Application.

IV. Downloading your Files

Once you have sucessfully connected to the ProComm ftp site, you should see the uploaded files listed. If Safari is set to open the Finder to access FTP sites, simply drag the files from the mounted volume to somewhere convenient on your hard drive. If you are using Internet Explorer (remember, Safari will not act as an FTP client) or some other browser, do not double-click the files you see as this will most likely start it playing. The most common problem users have downloading files happens when they double-click the file from an Internet browser window. Since the files ProComm provides are usually audio (media) files, your browser might start "playing" the file when you really want to download it or save it. In Internet Explorer, to download a file instead of play it:



1. Select the file to download and control+click it
2. Select "Download Link to Disk"
3. Locate the place on your Mac HD to save the file and click OK.

Note that with different Internet browsers and with their different versions, the option to save the file might be a bit different. For example, the current version of Firefox uses "Save Link As..."