HFS (File Sharing Server) Main menu

You can access the Main menu by either:

• Clicking the Menu button on the Main menu.
• Right-clicking the tray icon.

A list of all available commands is shown below. You may not always see them all. This is because you are in Easy mode, or because that command is not relevant to the current operation.

Contents 1 Menu items 1.1 Other Options 1.2 Upload 1.3 Start/Exit 1.3.1 Auto-close 1.4 Virtual File System 1.5 Limits 1.6 Flash task button 1.7 Tray icons 1.8 IP address 1.9 Accept connections on 1.10 Dynamic DNS updater 1.11 URL encoding 1.12 Updates 1.13 Save options

Menu items

This is a list of features directly accessible from the Main menu. Submenus are shown below.

Edit HTML template

This is only available in "Expert mode". It allows you to customize the appearance of the pages that HFS furnishes to browsers. See HTML Template Editor for more information.

Show bandwidth graph

If the graph is hidden (default), click this to make it visible. Graph display is displayed (by default) in "Expert mode".

Self Test

A test is made to verify the visibility of your HFS file server from the Internet. It also tries to automatically solve some problems.

Add files

Dialog to add files to the VFS.

Add folder from disk

Dialog to add a folder to the VFS from a disk.

Load file system

You can retrieve the VFS from files. You are prompted to find the correct directory.

Load recent files

Quick access to the last VFS-files you loaded.

Save file system

You can also store the VFS in files. Remember to save before quitting. If you haven't saved, this is indicated in the bottom right-hand corner of the status bar.

Clear file system

Empty the VFS and restores the initial state.

Uninstall HFS

Remove the software and related configurations (files and registry settings).

About

Information about the software.

Switch ON/OFF

When the server is ON, it accept new connections. Switching it OFF prompts you to break all current HFS connections.

Restore

When HFS is minimized, this brings the window to the top and makes it visible.

Exit

Quits HFS.

Other Options

Shell context menu

Toggles shell integration. When inegration is active, all .vfs files are associated with HFS, and all file menus include an Add to HFS item.

Auto-copy URL on addition

Every time you add a file, the URL is automatically copied to the clipboard.

Always on top

Displays the HFS window on top of all other windows.

Send HFS identifier

There is a standard way for HTTP servers to be recognized by clients. HFS does it automatically, but you can turn this off.

Persistent connections

Browsers normally open multiple connections when they download a page with icons. If you turn off this option, there will be a connection for every icon downloaded. This is slow. The less connections you open, the faster you go.

This does not speed up a single file download, but it can drastically speed up browsing through folders. You can turn this option off if you need to.

Specific HTML for download managers

Some download managers have an internal browser to browse through the links of a webpage. This feature makes them fetch an optimised HTML, and provides a better browsing experience. At the moment, this options works with the following download managers: Getright, FDM, FlasGet.

Graph refresh rate

This is the time by which the Bandwidth graph moves forward. The smaller the value, the faster it moves.

MIME types

This is for techies. Here you can associate files (by file masks) to MIME types.

You can read additional info about MIME types.

Open directly in-browser

This is not a command. It is a suggestion. It suggests to a browser what it should be open directly, and what instead should prompt a save dialog.

Users

A user is often also called an account. To be recognized as a specific user, people have to log in. You can define privileges for users (and also limits in future versions).

Use comment as realm

If a realm is not specified, the comment will be used as realm.

See for information about realms.

Login realm

Specify a realm for the LOGIN button.

Hints for newcomers

Displays some extra hints.

Compressed browsing

Pages generated by HFS are sent compressed. This means you browse faster.

Modal dialog for options

When options dialog is modal, you can't access other windows until you close the options.

Enable ~nodefault

the ~nodefault is an URL the user can type to avoid the default file mask feature. Some administrators may do not want this, so it is an option.

Show customized options

It is a fast and easy way to have a look at what options are not in their default state. It is a good information to furnish when asking for help.

Upload

Delete partial uploads

When an upload is interrupted, the partial file is just deleted.

Rename partial uploads

This option is for those who want to keep partial uploads, and renames them for easy identification.

Number files on upload instead of overwriting

When someone uploads a file, another file with the same name may already exist. In this case, the new file gets another name (with numbers appended) to avoid overwriting.

Start/Exit

Here you can find features about starting and quitting HFS.

Auto-copy URL on start

Copy the home URL to the clipboard as HFS starts.

Start minimized

When HFS starts, the window is minimized.

Reload on startup VFS file previously open

If you had a VFS file open the last time you quit, it is automatically reloaded.

Save in/out totals

When you restart HFS, the totals are reset. Using this options preserves their value.

Auto-save VFS on exit

If you have a VFS open, and it is modified, it is automatically saved on quitting.

Only 1 instance

When this option is off, you can run HFS as many times as you want.

When it is on, only one master runs. Any action directed to a new instance is simply forwarded to the existing one.

Confirm exit

Prompts for user confirmation before quitting.

Find external address at startup

When HFS starts, execute Menu →IP address →Find external address.

Auto-close

Here you can specify when HFS should automatically quit.

No downloads timeout

Quit when nothing is sent for a while.

Virtual File System

Folders before

Folders are always shown on top of other items.

Use system icons

You should care about this option. It makes specific file icons appears instead of the generic icon.

This can be very pretty, but can also slow down HFS drastically in at least three ways:

When you add a folder from the disc as a virtual one. At that time, HFS will load icons for every file, and if you have thousands of files, this could be a lengthy operation.

When you have a real folder and someone browses it. At that time, HFS will load all icons.

When people browse a page, HFS has to download every icon which can take much time and bandwidth.

Load single comment files

Enables the loading of .comment files.

List files with hidden/system attribute

Files have attributes. This option determines if files with any specific attribute are shown.

List protected items only for allowed users

You can hide protected items (by password or account) from being listed to unauthorized browsers.

Flag files added recently

You set a time range, and if a file is fresh enough, it gets a tag.

Auto-save every

The VFS is autosaved at a regular time interval.

Reset downloads

Reset the counter for all files and folders.

Limits

Speed limit

Specify the maximum total bandwidth HFS will use when sending files.

Pause streaming

Stops file sending, but does not break connections. It just sets the "speed limit" to zero, temporarily.

Max connections

The maximum number of connections allowed.

Max connections from single address

The maximum number of connections allowed from the same IP address.

Max simultaneous downloads

You can set the maximum number of simultaneous downloads.

Max simultaneous downloads from single address

As above, but referring to a single address. This is a good way to share bandwidth better.

Max simultaneous addresses

Determine how many people browse simultaneously. Be aware that not always do different people have different addresses on the internet.

Max simultaneous addresses downloading

Determine how many people download simultaneously. Be aware that not always do different people have different addresses on the internet.

Connections inactivity timeout

If a connection is inactive for a while, it can be automatically broken.

Bans

You can prevent clients from specified IP addresses.

Minimum disk space

Allows you to set (in megabytes) the minimum amount of free space that must be available before an upload starts. This is obviously useful when your hard disk is nearly full, or if you expect someone is going to send you a huge unwanted file.

Allowed referer... 

Allows you to set which sites are are allowed to hotlink to your files.

Prevent leeching 

by enabling this feature, you will prevent abusing by download accelerators. Consequence is having a limit of 1 connection on the same file by the same IP address.

Flash task button

The taskbar is that bar with the START button. The task button is on the taskbar (also called the notification area) and has HFS written on it. You can make it flash to alert you to events.

On download

Flash when a file is requested for download.

On connection

Flash when a connection is established.

Never

Disable the task button flashing option.

Also beep

Make a sound when the task button flashes.

Tray icons

Tray icons are the HFS icons in the bottom-right corner of your screen, near the clock (also called the "notification area").

Minimize to tray

When you minimize HFS, the taskbutton is hidden and only the tray icon remains.

Show main tray icon

If this option is on, the main tray icon is always displayed, even if HFS is not minimized.

Main icon shows

The main tray icon displays a number. You can choose whether this indicates the "Number of" "current connections", or "logged downloads", or "logged uploads", or "logged hits".

Tray message

When the mouse hovers over the main tray icon, it displays a message. You can customize the message here.

Tray icon for each download

You can have multiple tray icons. For every file download, an icon is created to show progress.

IP address

This menu doesn't actually change the way the network works. It is used by HFS to form URLs in the Address bar, for your convenience.

Custom

Sometimes it is useful to type the address yourself. For example, if you have your own domain or you are NATted.

Don't include port in URL

This only affects URL building. Use with care.

Find external address

This is useful if you are in a LAN and HFS only detects your internal address, but you may want to be visible on the internet.

In these cases, the external address is not actually your address, it is the address of your router. To make the address work, you have to correctly configure your router.

Constantly search for better address

Let's say you have a dialup connection (no router). You run HFS, it detects your local address and shows it. Then you connect and get a new internet address.

If this option is on, HFS will automatically switch to the new address.

Accept connections on

Your computer may be on several networks. On every network, your computer has an address. On this menu you can specify the network where HFS should work, by selecting the related address.

Selecting Any address, connections will be accepted from anywhere. Instead, if a numeric address is specified, only the related network will work.

Please, notice that 127.0.0.1 identifies the local loopback, also called localhost: this will bound HFS to work only inside your computer and not accept anything from the outside.

Dynamic DNS updater

If your IP address changes often (because of dial-up for example), you can still use a domain name if you use a Dynamic DNS service and update your address information with them. This can be tiresome if you often get a new ip address. HFS is able to automatically update your information. This means you can use a domain name instead of an ip address in your links, e.g http://your.domain.net/ instead of http://*.123.45.67/

****** wizard

This is a wizard which helps you to setup HFS to update DNS on DynDNS[1], No-IP[2], or CJB[3]. Use the user information provided by your DNS service when creating your account with them.

Custom

The update is made through an URL. Here you can input such a URL, for example, if your service has no wizard.

See last server response

When an update is attempted, it may fail. Sometimes, you may want to see the server response.

URL encoding

Encode spaces

You can disable space encoding to avoid those %20. Please notice that your chat will probably not recognize the full URL.

Encode non-ASCII characters

ASCII characters are alphanumerics plus a few more. They are usually encoded in the %NN form.

Use UNICODE in HTML

Non-ASCII characters are subject to incompatibilities. UNICODE systems solve this problem with an international standard for characters. Some systems do not support it, so it is your choice to use it or not.

Updates

Check for news/updates

Download information about new versions and security notifications.

Auto check every day

Check for updates once a day. To avoid annoyance, other notifications are not displayed by this feature.

Keep old version updating

Updating replaces the software. If this option is off, the old version will be lost. When is on, you see that the old hfs.exe file is renamed to hfs.old.exe.

Save options

You can decide where, how, and if, to save options.

to file

All options are written to a file (named hfs.ini).

to registry (current user)

All options are written to the registry. Only current user is affected (This apply to multi-user versions of Windows).

to registry (all users)

All options are written to the registry. All users are affected.

Clear options and quit

The current options are discarded, no options are saved, and HFS shuts down. The next time HFS starts, it uses the default options, or the current settings in hfs.ini.

Auto-save options on exit

Normally, you should make sure that this is checked. It means your saver will look exactly the same when you re-start it.

Auto-save every

Set this if you wish to ensure that your settings are saved within a specific time interval. The method used depends on whether you have selected "registry" or "file" above.