I have recently upgraded to SP2 and also bought a 3com ADSL router for the “server” downstairs. My PC upstairs has also been upgraded to SP2 recently, and I now find that my dial-up to Virgin.net (my website hosts) takes umpteen attempts to get online, is extremely slow, doesn’t seem to work at all with WS-FTP, and loses the connection after just a few minutes of activity. I have uninstalled ZoneAlarm – but am reluctant to uninstall AVG Antivirus as it will leave me exposed to hackers etc. Perhaps I should also uninstall SP2 …. Can anyone please help before I have to go back to the dark ages – no SP2, AVG, etc …..? Thanks. bob999

Zone alarm and AVG work well with windows XP so that is not the problem. If you have ADSL, why are you using dial up? If it is hackers you are worrying about, AVG wont stop them, but Zone Alarm will. Stuart

Check and see if the Windows built-in firewall is enabled. Somewhere you will find (on a firewall) port 23 is disabled for FTP. As for the dial-up atempts, when you next have the problem, manually dial with your telephone and see if you get through.

Stuart, I need to use dial-up to upload changes to my website at virgin.net who assure me that this cannot be done using ADSL. The whole idea of getting a router was to speed up my uploads, but this appears to out of the question. bob999

Thanks Paracomp, Any ideas where I start looking for the "Port 23 disabled"? I'm using the XP Firewall. bob999

For the XP Firewall. go to Control Panel/Windows Firewall (also found under Security Center). Then go to: Exceptions tab. If you are using a third party app for ftp (ws-ftp, core, etc.)it will need to be listed. In that case you need the "add program" and pick your ftp program. otherise, You can also use add port and add name: ftp port: 21 (sorry i see i made a typo above, it should be 21) then make sure it is checked in the left column. then click OK to save. When SP2 is installed it enables the windows built-in firewall and disables ports such as for ftp as it is considered a non-secure connection. ftp sends usernames and passwords in clear text. i think virgin is wrong. You should be able to use ADSL for uploading. Are you having to pay them another £10/month for dialup? Maybe they just want the money....More likely they do not know why ftp is not working. If this fixes the problem with dialup it probably will also fix the problem with ADSL.

Thanks Paracomp, I tried your suggested fix, but had no luck. The Exceptions tab already included WS_FTP95 (ticked), and when I tried to add port 21 I got the message: "The port TCP 21 (ftp port) cannot be added. an entry for the same port already exists". None of the items shown on the Exceptions tab had any ports entered against them, so I was unable to confirm that port 21 was being used by WF_FTP95. bob999