PuTTY is a free software that can be used to open an SSH connection to a Linux server. PuTTY can be downloaded from the address:
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html
- download PuTTY to a folder on your computer disk (eg c:\putty)
- right click on putty.exe and choose "Send To> Desktop"
- double click on the software application or the shortcut on the desktop
- it is possible that the operating system warns you that the author of the application cannot be verified. If you have downloaded the application from a trusted source then you can run it (generally the above link gives enough confidence)
- enter the connection data: hostname or server IP, SSH port and leave the default connection type (SSH)
- if this is the first time you connect to this server, you will receive a warning message: "The server's host key is not cached in the registry. You have no guarantee that the server is the computer you think it is." Accept the connection by clicking "Yes"
- enter the username and password with which you log in. The password will not be displayed in the authentication window, this behavior being normal (for security reasons)
- once successful authentication, you can type your commands.
