Hum, everyone has a different problem upon connecting.

I get a message in the right hand upper box, in yellow. It says "The action you are trying to complete has timed out. [28] Additional information: Timeout was reached. This showed up instantly.

I have Nickname CCCC
Server hostbaby.com
Username seabirdstu
Password*********

Passive mode

I have Windows HP and I have the newest version of free FTP

I'm going to assume you meant Windows XP?

Have you tried connecting with a different FTP program to see if it's Free FTP or if it's maybe your server that is not getting connected to?

Also try disabling your firewall temporarily and see if that isn't what is blocking the connection as that's also been a culprit at times too. If that's the case then you may need to manually enter the ftp program into the trusted or safe area of your Firewall.