Only SmartFtp wont connect when wsftp, cuteftp and IE will!

Here's what smartftp does when I try to connect to ANY ftp site using all default settings EXCEPT changing from passive to active as all the ftps I use require you to NOT connect passive (but I tested with passive and it didn't make a difference anyways) from a freshly installed copy of smartftp recent version and the same happens when I install the development version afterward and try again:

Resolving host name ftp.smartftp.com...
Connecting to (ftp.smartftp.com) -> IP: 213.144.155.6 PORT: 21
Connection timeout. No response from server.
Cannot login waiting to retry (60s)...
Continue to login attempt 2...
Connecting to (ftp.smartftp.com) -> IP: 213.144.155.6 PORT: 21
Connection timeout. No response from server.
Cannot login waiting to retry (60s)...
Continue to login attempt 3...
Connecting to (ftp.smartftp.com) -> IP: 213.144.155.6 PORT: 21
Connection timeout. No response from server.


you get the idea. Why does cuteftp, wsftp and simply doing ftp.smartftp.com for example in Internet Explorer correctly show the contents of the ftp site and smartftp acts like I've got a firewall or something when I have just installed it on a clean version of xpsp1corp and have the internet sharing and firewall features of xp turned off in the services admin area?

for instance i have smartftp doing what you see above as I write and now I opened IE and entered the smartftp ftp site and my IE window shows this which I assume is correct:

FTP root at ftp.smartftp.com

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12/18/2003 05:19AM Directory Common
02/07/2004 05:17PM Directory SmartFTP


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Can you think of anything else that smartftp is incompatible with? All that is running besides basic xp system is my belkin UPS util.

I installed cuteftp and wsftp and figured I'd just use one of them instead but I really hate them compared to smartftp so I decided to bother to write this error report and take the chance that this will be fixed in smartftp soon or that there is some windows system feature i can simply turn off that is conflicting. It is very frustrating that every other crappier ftp product works with no problem.

HELP!

--Kiersten

After reading other posts where the support person asked for the users about settings in smart ftp I thought I'd try to head off that help delay by providing them here. thanks.
--Kiersten

+- System -----------------------------

Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)

CPU Speed : 2839 MHz
Total Memory : 523756 KB
Free Memory : 281748 KB

+- SmartFTP ---------------------------

Version : 1.0.981.8
Time Stamp : 2004-02-12 05:48:39

+- Application DLL --------------------

controls.dll : 1.6.981.8
ftpapi.dll : 2.0.981.8
language.dll : 1.0.981.8
reseng.dll : 1.3.981.8
+- System DLL -------------------------

shell32.dll : 6.00.2800.1233 (xpsp2.030604-1804)
shlwapi.dll : 6.00.2800.1400
comctl32.dll : 6.0 (xpsp1.020828-1920)
riched20.dll : 5.30.23.1211
schannel.dll : 5.1.2600.1106 (xpsp1.020828-1920)

+- Internet Explorer ------------------

Version : 6.0.2800.1106

+- Winsock ----------------------------

Winsock : 2.2

The problem is very likely with a software firewall running on your system. (windows xp firewa, zonealaram, etc). Disable and/or uninstall them temporary. If you're running McAfee Virusscan, their LSP layer is still buggy and you'll have problems with lots of applications.

Again the problem is with a software running on your system, and it's not SmartFTP which causes the problem.

You can search the forum and you'll see that in 100% of the cases it was a firwall software, router, AV software, etc.

Okay well I know I have turned the service off of windows firewall and therefore icsharing since you can't separate them. Before I uninstall zonealarm and then have to reinstall and initialize my activation and all that you are saying that if I have zonealarm set to NOT LOAD ON BOOT and there is no icon in my icon tray and when I do ctrl-alt-delete-tasks there is nothing there starting with Z, YET ZONEALARM could still be the problem?

Also I read some very old posts when searching your forum where people had smartftp problems with linksys routers and I have the cheapest most basic 1 port linksys wired router where the cable modem goes in one port and the other goes to a generic simple hub that has no intelligence of any kind, could smartftp still have bugs with LINKSYS? I have updated the firmware to the most recent and simply use entirely the DEFAULT settings with my cable modem except for changing the password of the router. So if you look at the router software there is no forwarding of any kind which you know has to be true if cuteftp and wsftp and IE ftp work just fine. Is this a more likely cause that a new router may fix?

finally if I want to just prove there is no interference software and want to boot up in a kind of manual safe mode what services are critical for smartftp to talk through a cable modem as I'll manually turn everything else off and check the task manager to make sure everythings off. Then I'll know if it's just incompatible with some hardware or something and not software based. I tried to boot into safe mode but obviously smartftp needs some of the services turned on to access the internet.

BTW when I search your forums for my exact error code stated in my email above I get hundreds of emails in the results although I can never find my search terms in the actual resulting email I'm reading. Can you give me any hints for only showing my exact smartftp error listed above or copy/paste the link to me that shows only such results?

thank you for your time! I'll give this a few more trys before I give up to crappier ftp apps.

--Kiersten

ps ask I look at my task manager I do have mcaffee recovery console running which pops up a message when I install a new app so it can take a system snapshot which can be reverted to in case of problems. Might this un-internet related app have the mcaffee problem you mentioned?