The various uses of FTP. 

In computering, the File Transfer Protocol is a network protocol used to transfer data from one computer to another through a network,such as over the Internet, such as over the Internet

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FTP is a file transfer protocol for exchanging files over any TCP/IP based network to manipulate files on another computer on that network regardless of which operating systems are involved (if the computers permit FTP access). There are many existing FTP client and server programs. FTP servers can be set up anywhere between game servers, voice servers, Internet hosts, and other physical servers.

What positives are there with FTP? 

not sureon this one butif anyone can letme know ????:)

What are some of the negatives/ risks?

Time delay
IFTP is a high latency protocol due to the number of commands needed to initiate a transfer.

The original FTP specification is an inherently insecure method of transferring files because there is no method specified for transferring data in an encrypted fashion. This means that under most network configurations, user names, passwords, FTP commands and transferred file can be "sniffed" or viewed by anyone on the same network using a packet sniffer. 

How can these risks be minimised?

Many sites that run FTP servers enable anonymous ftp. Under this arrangement, users do not need an account on the server. The user name for anonymous access is typically 'anonymous', but historically 'ftp' was also used in the past; this account does not need a password.

File Service Protocol is a UDP-based replacement for the File Transfer Protocol, designed for anonymous access with lower hardware and network requirements than FTP. In particular, because it uses UDP, it avoids the problems that many FTP servers have had with requiring a separate process for each client, and because it is built to use an unreliable protocol, it can more easily handle resuming a transfer after a network failure