Turns out they run much faster if you make them an exception program in your firewall. I assume everybody but me knows this though. I am just so happy. FTP is fast now. This is so great. OMG.
EDIT: I am 200% better at poker today than I was two days ago. Things are clicking. This is great.
EDIT II: In Vista with windows firewall this is how I did it. Very easy.
*open windows firewall
*click change settings
*click the "exceptions" tab
*click "add program"
*add w/e program you want (FTP stars)
*click ok.