At work we don’t have much use for FTP but every now and then we have to install an FTP client for someone and configure it to use our SOCKS proxy. We first try FileZilla, but it has issues connecting to some servers through our proxies (have yet to figure out a pattern), so, if that happens we try SmartFTP (free for Educational use) instead. In the past we always used SmartFTP 2.0 and setting up the proxies was simple. You just went to Tools -> Settings -> Connection -> Proxy and entered the details. Today we installed SmartFTP 2.5 for the first time and discovered that the proxy pane was gone from the Connection Dialog in Settings. Looking a little further revealed it was NOWHERE in settings anymore, or indeed in ANY of the menus in the menu bar. I did eventually find it, but the steps you have to take are absurd.

1. Select Favorites -> Edit Favorites ... (opens a new window)
2. In the new Windows go to Favorite -> New -> Favorite (opens another new window)
3. In this second new window right down at the bottom is a ‘button’ that is not so much a button as a piece of blue text labeled ‘Edit Default Favorite’, click on this.
4. Now, finally, you can edit the proxy settings under connection.

What ever idiot thought that this was an improvement over the way things were done in 2.0 should be fired at once and barred from writing software for life! This level of utter incompetence and total disregard for users and the basic tenets of HCI should be sufficient to end anyone’s career. If you value your sanity, AVOID SmartFTP!

[tags]SmartFTP, HCI, Proxy[/tags]