What FTP is Safe to use with OS X El Capitan?

General Web Dev
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Hi,
I have been using Filzilla for years. However, after today’s download I am afraid to use it ever again. You see, today, in addition to downloading what once was my favorite FTP, I also had the unfortunate occurrence of downloading a malware called Advanced Mac Cleaner. It took me a while to get it off of my OS X El Capitan operating system. After doing some research, I read that others have had this same aggravating occurrence.

My question is, will Advanced Macintosh Cleaner be downloaded with Filezilla every time or is there a safe place to download this FTP? Can anyone recommend a good FTP for me to use? I would hope I wouldn’t have to pay. But if I have to I guess I will.

Thank you for your help.

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From which site did you download it?

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When you download from file hosting sites like SourceForge, you have to be wary of the options in the installer for the program in question. It’s rare for a well known software like Filezilla to actually be packaged with malware - instead, the installer asks you if you want it to install xyz in fine print and gives you the option to renege, but people click through the installer so fast they miss it.

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This Url brought me to links where I downloaded it.

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Hm, that’s the official Filezilla download page, which is a worry. Shame that they are sending this junk down the pipe as well.

If you must have something free, give Cyberduck at try. Of, if you want a really good one for a few $$, try Transmit.

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… which mirrors people through SourceForge and such, unfortunately. Nothing wrong with the software, just the medium by which they’re letting it be delivered.

Edit: If I go back to OS X like I’d like to, I’ll be picking up Transmit. It’s a nice app.

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Seconding Cyberduck. That’s what I use. I haven’t had any problems with it, but I don’t do anything special with SFTP.

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Filezilla’s forums say this is an “extra” which is “offered” by SourceForge and which can be easily declined, although others on their forum seem to disagree that the option was offered. (I don’t know; I have Filezilla, but it’s installed from the Ubuntu repos.)

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I just downloaded it (again) a couple of days ago - but for Windows 10, not Mac.

There was a line on the installer saying “additional” were included

During the installation there were a few panes that had “accept” / “decline” options

I think part of the problem is that people are conditioned to click accept because you need to accept the Terms in order to install things.

The other part of the problem is that a lot of people don’t read what is there before clicking.

I can’t speak for others, but I “declined” the “extras” and no other applications were installed along with Filezilla in my case.

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Yeah. FWIW I seem to recall declining this when I installed on Windows. The laptop I’m on at the moment is Ubuntu, so repos, or I’d just reinstall it and get a screenshot.

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I decided to use the free version of CyberDuck for now. I doubt I will ever use Filezilla again due to my lack of trust.

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FileZilla stores your password in plain-text.

I use CyberDuck on my Mac.

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Malware warning for some FileZilla version 3.5.3 and 3.7.3 installers

http://news.en.softonic.com/malware-warning-for-some-filezilla-version-3-5-3-and-3-7-3-installers

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These malware “scares”, as stated above, are really not a reason for a user who knows anything about computers not to use Filezilla. Their distribution method sucks, but it’s not like none of us has ever used SourceForge or the like before.

The fact that FileZilla stores passwords in plain text, to me, is a legitimate complaint. I basically ignore this issue myself, but really people should consider that, strongly. And if I was offering an alternative for OS X, I’d suggest CyberDuck too.

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