PuTTY project is a client program for the SSH, Rlogin and Telnet network protocols.

These protocols are all used to run a remote session on a computer, over a network. PuTTY implements the client end of that session: the end at which the session is displayed, rather than the end at which it runs.

In really simple terms: you run PuTTY on a Windows machine, and tell it to connect to (for example) a Unix machine. PuTTY opens a window.

Then, anything you type into that window is sent straight to the Unix machine, and everything the Unix machine sends back is displayed in the window. So you can work on the Unix machine as if you were sitting at its console, while actually sitting somewhere else.

LEGAL WARNING: Use of PuTTY, PSCP, PSFTP and Plink is illegal in countries where encryption is outlawed. I believe it is legal to use PuTTY, PSCP, PSFTP and Plink in England and many other countries, but I am not a lawyer and so if in doubt you should seek legal advice before downloading it.


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Here are some key features of "PuTTY":

· PuTTY (the Telnet and SSH client itself)
· PSCP (an SCP client, i.e. command-line secure file copy)
· PSFTP (an SFTP client, i.e. general file transfer sessions much like FTP)
· PuTTYtel (a Telnet-only client)
· Plink (a command-line interface to the PuTTY back ends)
· Pageant (an SSH authentication agent for PuTTY, PSCP and Plink)
· PuTTYgen (an RSA and DSA key generation utility)

What's New in This Release: [ read full changelog ]

· Security fix: PuTTY no longer retains passwords in memory by mistake.
· Bug fix: Pageant now talks to both new-style clients (0.61 and above) and old-style (0.60 and below).
· Bug fix: PuTTY no longer prints a spurious "Access denied" message when GSSAPI authentication fails.
· Bug fix: PSCP and PSFTP now honour nonstandard port numbers in SSH saved sessions.
· Bug fix: Pageant no longer leaks a file handle when an authentication fails.
· Bug fix: PuTTYtel no longer crashes when saving a session.
· Bug fix: PuTTY now draws underlines under the underlined text instead of sometimes putting them somewhere off to the right.
· Bug fix: PuTTY now should not draw VT100 line drawing characters at the wrong vertical offset.