If you want to download files from machine A to machine B and have python installed on machine A, here is a very simple way to do it:

On machine A, open a command window and change directory to where the files are and run this command:

python -m SimpleHTTPServer


This command starts a web server serving files from that directory.

On machine B, just open a browser and type the ip address of machine A and port 8000 and you can see all the files. When the transfer is done, simply press control-C in the command window. A simple way to temporarily share your files across the network!