The latest version of Ipswitch’s popular FTP client focuses on those features that help with music, photo and video file transfers, along with publishing of personal websites, blogs and podcasts.

To this end, there’s now the ability to preview image files as editable and resizable thumbnails, which can speed up the uploading process when you aren’t sure which file is which. The same emphasis on speed is apparent by the integration of Windows Desktop Search, allowing for searches by file type, size and date range, with the results returned directly within the WS_FTP interface. It’s a shame the support for Google Desktop and Copernic search systems that can be found in the Professional version isn’t there for Home users, but only you can decide if this is worth the extra 75 percent in cost terms. We’re less enamoured with the customisable skins feature, which adds nothing to the usefulness, unless you need an FTP client that looks like an Xbox game.

The principal differences between the Home and Professional versions relate to the latter’s higher levels of security and automation, but most people will be more than catered for by the cheaper option. It’s not as if the Home version is insecure, with both FTPS and SSL protocols supported alongside standard FTP.

New to the Home 2007 product is CRC32 and MD5 file integrity checking, ensuring transferred files are validated and not compromised. One area where WS_FTP Home does lose out to its big brother is when it comes to automation. But, again, for most people who just want to transfer files and maintain their website quickly and simply, this isn’t a big deal. The Home version has everything you do need, including a “hotdrop” folder for dragging and dropping of multiple files for instant transfer, simultaneous folder navigation between two connections with the same tree structure, and automatic resumption of interrupted transfers.