As we look to the future we know that we must continually improve our service to remain competitive and win new business. However, we also know that great businesses are built on great customer service, loyalty, and trust. Reflecting our commitment to quality is the fact that SendThisFile customers are choosing to stay longer too, with the average paying customer duration at over a year and growing longer every month.

We value each of our customers greatly and would like to extend our sincerest thank you to all of our customers for their support and patronage.

SendThisFile is proud to announce our sponsorship of the open-source Webalizer project!

SendThisFile is a strong supporter of the Open Source community, without which the free software that powers many great web sites would not exist.

When we recently discovered that Webalizer needed a new home, we immediately decided to provide server space for webalizer.org and for the distribution of the software.

Webalizer is free software that analyzes web server log files and organizes the results in an HTML formatted directory that can then be read in a standard web browser. It is simple to use, blazingly fast, and easy to install.

It is also completely free and licenced under the open source GNU General Public License. If you run a website, we strongly recommend using the Webalizer software.

Please consider supporting Webalizer by promoting its use, contributing code, or contributing money towards its development.

For more info, visit www.webalizer.org

(Image source: Flickr x-ray delta one)

Share/Bookmark

Here is a picture of Loreta:

Share/Bookmark

We are very excited that our local CHL hockey team, the Wichita Thunder, has made it to the finals! This weekend the Wichita Thunder will face the Fort Wayne Komets in our home town. It will be the first time the Thunder has made it to the finals since the '97-'98 season.

Join us in congratulating the Wichita Thunder in their accomplishment. We hope that you will be able to help them out by giving your support this weekend.

It's going to be a great final series!

-Alex

(Image Source: Jancy Ireland)

Have you ever noticed that email programs will block certain file types?

To reduce the spread of spam and viruses, email services block the ability to send certain files, namely executable files. Executable files are self contained programs which can be run by opening them. Every program on your computer is launched using an executable file. In the file sharing world, these executable file types, in nearly all forms, have been singled out as a security threat.

Most email services will completely block any executable file type that is attached to an email. If your job requires you to share an executable file, such as software programmers or developers, email attachment blocking will diminish your ability to easily share your projects with others.

So what files do the large free email providers NOT let you share? The list is surprisingly large.

Google's Gmail will block files with the following extensions: .ade, .adp, .bat, .chm, .cmd, .com, .cpl, .exe, .hta, .ins, .isp, .jse, .lib, .mde, .msc, .msp, .mst, .pif, .scr, .sct, .shb, .sys, .vb, .vbe, .vbs, .vxd, .wsc, .wsf, and .wsh.

Yahoo! Mail is less aggressive, but still blocks the most common executable files, including: .exe, .com, .vbs, .lnk, .pif, .scr, .bat.

So you might be thinking that you can just compress these files into a single folder right? Well you will be disappointed to learn that Gmail also scans compressed files (.zip, .tar, .tgz, .taz, .z, .gz, and .rar) and blocks these files if an executable format is detected.

Microsoft Exchange, a popular business email platform, is quite aggressive, and by default will block the most file types, including: .ade, .adp, .app, .asp, .bas, .bat, .cer, .chm, .cmd, .cnt, .com, .cpl, .crt, .csh, .der, .exe, .fxp, .gadget, .hlp, .hpj, .hta, .inf, .ins, .isp, .its, .js, .jse, .ksh, .lnk, .mad, .maf, .mag, .mam, .maq, .mar, .mas, .mat, .mau, .mav, .maw, .mda, .mdb, .mde, .mdt, .mdw, .mdz, .msc, .msh, .msh1, .msh2, .mshxml .msh1xml, .msh2xml, .msi, .msp, .mst, .ops, .osd, .pcd, .pif, .plg, .prf, .prg, .pst, .reg, .scf, .scr, .sct, .shb, .shs, .ps1, .ps1xml, .ps2, .ps2xml, .psc1, .psc2, .tmp, .url, .vb, .vbe, .vbp, .vbs, .vsmacros, .vsw, .ws, .wsc, .wsf, .wsh, and .xnk.

Overall, the blocking of executable file types from email has had a positive security effect and raised the minimum level of security for the entire email ecosystem, but has done so at the expense of legitimate users. Since the email user cannot control the file types blocked by email services, the only option is to seek alternative file sharing services such as managed file transfer.

At SendThisFile, we know that blocking file types limits legitimate uses of file sharing, and we allow you to share large files of any type. So if a programmer needs to send large files that are executable, they can do so. The recipient will receive a download link that opens a SendThisFile download page from which the file can be downloaded.

Photo Source: Flickr ladybeames

Periodically, we highlight customer file sharing experiences. In this blog post we will discuss NextLearn and how they used a SendThisFile FileBox to collect large customer files and replace FTP file collection.

NexLearn, an eLearning developer, had created a new learning simulation for their company and was looking for a way to promote it on their website. Having determined that a customer design contest would be the best way to generate buzz, NexLearn quickly discovered how tricky collecting large design files could be. FTP proved too cumbersome a method, requiring technical resources to setup and manage the project. To participate, customers needed a way to send files that were likely too large for normal email services that reject emails containing files larger than 25MB. Since file collecting would only last the duration of the contest, it made little sense to invest company resources into such a minor aspect of their business. NexLearn needed an expert.

After comparing various managed file transfer (MFT) providers, NexLearn determined that SendThisFile offered a powerfully simple solution. To collect customer design files for the contest, NexLearn placed a SendThisFile FileBox on their NexLearn contest page.

SendThisFile FileBox

A FileBox is an upload widget that transfers an uploader's email address, message, and files to NexLearn's account at SendThisFile. All files uploaded via the FileBox could be downloaded from SendThisFile servers at NexLearn's convenience. Integration was easy too, since NexLearn only had to copy-and-paste the auto-generated HTML code for the FileBox onto their webpage.

Now NexLearn had an easy way to add file upload capabilities to their website, without requiring special technical knowledge or ongoing management. SendThisFile makes collecting customer files easy.

Click here to read the NexLearn case study.

We are pleased to share a few new changes we have made to our service, improved menu navigation and enhanced mode defaults! The changes come at no charge and are part of our commitment to continually update our service to meet your needs.

Improved Menu Navigation

We have promoted our 'My Files' function to the top of the navigation bar. Previously it was a bit hard to find. This makes it much easier to find and view your file transfer activity.

New enhanced mode defaults

Just like our classic mode, the enhanced mode will now allow for defaults to be set for email notifications. You can set the Subject line to anything you wish, and no longer have to retype your desired subject line each time.

Another added feature is the ability to have the "To:" field remember the email address of the last notification sent. When this default is set, you won't have to try to remember or retype the email address of the last person you sent a file to, it will already be there!

The recent U.S. federal shutdown of MegaUpload has displaced a large number of file sharers. For those looking for alternative ways to share files online, it is important to know about the characteristics of legal file sharing services like SendThisFile.

The following is a list of attributes typical of legal file sharing services:

1. Users Pay-to-Play
Since the whole point of piracy is to get something for nothing, services requiring users to pay for their bandwidth sharing provides a strong economic incentive against piracy.

2. Responds to DMCA takedowns
The Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) contains a section called the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act (OCILLA) which criminalizes copyright infringement on the Internet. Any company that does not respond to DMCA takedowns is simply not complying with the law.

3. Files sharing scope is limited
By default, lawful services seek to protect files spiraling out of the sharers control, and are not intended to be accessed by an unlimited number of users. SendThisFile asks that you enter the email address of the person with whom you wish to share files. We don't host files long-term either, so files are securely deleted from our system after sharing.

4. Located in lawful countries
Fileservers and headquarters of the companies you choose to do business with should be located in countries that reciprocate the laws and values for copyrighted work. SendThisFile is headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, and all it's servers are hosted in the United States.

So what should you NOT look for in a file sharing website?

Any 100% Ad-supported website that does not charge users for file sharing, who does not respond to DMCA notices, hosts your files for long term public access, and conducts business from outside the reach of the law should be avoided. Doing business with such a company puts you and your files at risk, while encouraging piracy.

Since 2003, SendThisFile has fit the mold of a legitimate business empowering users to legally share data for business or personal use online.

To learn more about how to send large files click here.

Today is January 18th, SOPA protest day. If you've been online, opened a newspaper, or watched T.V. in the past week you've no doubt heard of SOPA. So why are Internet websites protesting SOPA and why is SOPA such a big deal? Let me explain.

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and it's Senate cousin the Protect IP Act (PIPA),  are well intentioned, but deeply flawed, bills being debated in Congress. If passed into law, both SOPA and PIPA would give the government unprecedented power to censor the internet and arbitrarily shut down websites without due process.

From Wikipedia:

The originally proposed bill would allow the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as copyright holders, to seek court orders against websites accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. Depending on who makes the request, the court order could include barring online advertising networks and payment facilitators from doing business with the allegedly infringing website, barring search engines from linking to such sites, and requiring Internet service providers to block access to such sites.

The bill grants law enforcement the ability to completely shut down any website, be it foreign or domestic, using DNS filtering without due process. In short, they could force ISPs (Internet service providers) to block your access to websites and even remove them from search engine results, thus destroying the internet-based business without giving it the opportunity to defend itself.

Why is this bad? As written, SOPA threatens current jobs, hampers innovation by creating undue risk, flouts due process, could disrupt lawful Internet service websites, and violates the privacy of file sharers.

And it gets worse from there.

From SOPA Section 101:

(23) U.S.-DIRECTED SITE- The term `U.S.-directed site' means an Internet site or portion thereof that is used to conduct business directed to residents of the United States, or that otherwise demonstrates the existence of minimum contacts sufficient for the exercise of personal jurisdiction over the owner or operator of the Internet site consistent with the Constitution of the United States, based on relevant evidence that may include whether--

(A) the Internet site is used to provide goods or services to users located in the United States;

(B) there is evidence that the Internet site or portion thereof is intended to offer or provide--
(i) such goods and services,
(ii) access to such goods and services, or
(iii) delivery of such goods and services,
to users located in the United States;

(C) the Internet site or portion thereof does not contain reasonable measures to prevent such goods and services from being obtained in or delivered to the United States; and

SOPA is written in such a way that if any legitimate business service (or even your Internet service provider) does not monitor its customer's file transfers for copyright violations, then that service would be complicit in the copyright infringement.

SendThisFile abhors piracy in all its forms and we respect the rights of content owners. However, SendThisFile greatly respects the privacy rights of it's customers and seeks to provide the most convenient, secure, and reliable way to send files online. SOPA would end that.

We strongly encourage our customers to join us in supporting companies, U.S. Representatives, and U.S. Senators that oppose SOPA.

Click here to learn how you can help stop SOPA.