To use putty effectively, there are a number of setup steps that need to be taken. While there are quite a few steps, they only need to be done once.

Here is a step-by-step explanation of what to do.

• Installation of putty
  • Click on the putty link and save the putty.exe file in your C:\windows directory on your hard drive. You may browse through "My Computer" to "C:" to "Windows".
  • Open "My Computer". Click through to "C:" and to "Windows".
  • Find "Putty" and RIGHT-CLICK on it. Click on "COPY".
  • Move your pointer to the desktop and RIGHT-CLICK on the desktop. Click "Paste Shortcut". You now should have a putty shortcut on your desktop.
• Configuration of putty
  • Click on the putty shortcut on your desktop.
    A dialog box should appear. You should be in the "Session" section. Find the entries listed and put in the values noted below.
  • Hostname (or IP address):    mhc.mtholyoke.edu
  • Protocol:    SSH
    Note, the "Port" should change to "22".
  • Saved Sessions:    mhc
  • Go to Section:    Terminal/Keyboard
    Backspace key:    Control-H
    This will make your backspace key work properly when logged into mhc.mtholyoke.edu.
  • This step is optional, but the default colors are pretty bad and this step will give you an idea of how to make them reasonable. Later, you can further modify on your own if you want. Note, you must do all the colors listed below.
    Go to Section: Window/Colors
    • Default Forground: Modify
      Select: Black
      This is what your letters will look like.
      Press "OK"
    • Default Bold Forground: Modify
      Select: Deep blue (red/green/blue = 0/0/255)
      Press "OK"
    • Default Background: Modify
      Select: Some nice, light color.
      I like a pale green. Click on the color palate toward the top and click on the color bar a few notches down. The "Color/Solid" should become a light color.
      Note, the background red/green/blue of this page is 206/255/221. But this is the color selection that is most up to the individual.
      Press "OK"
    • Default Bold Background: Modify
      Select: Deep red (red/green/blue = 255/0/0)
      Press "OK"
    • Cursor text:
      Confirm it is red/green/blue = 0/0/0 (black)
      Press "OK"
    • Cursor color:
      Confirm it is red/green/blue = 0/255/0 (green)
      However, I often use "red" with a pale green background.
      Press "OK"
  • Go to section:    Session
  • Click "Save"
    If you omit this "Save", all your configuration work will be wasted!
  • You may now either "Cancel" or "Open" to log in, but for future startups, you need to continue these steps.
  • Right click on the Putty icon on the desktop.
  • Make a new putty shortcut. Rename that putty shortcut something like "putty MHC". Now right-click on that and click on "Properties".
  • In the "Target" box, add a space and then "@mhc" and click "Ok".
    (Note -- that space is important. Don't omit it.
    The "@mhc" will use the settings you established in the "Saved Session" called "mhc" you set earlier.

• Further Configuration of putty or configuring other putty sessions
  You can further configure putty and create new icons for going to specific computers. The general steps are listed here.
  • You can get to the configuration dialog box by right-clicking on any active putty session in the blue boarder of the window at the top. Select "New Session" and the dialog box will come up.
  • In the dialog box, you can select and "Load" any existing configuration.
  • After Loading a configuration, you might change the name in the "Saved Session" box.
  • After doing any modifications, click "Save" to save the configuration of that "Saved Session".
  • The name in the "Saved Session" is the name after the "@" in the putty icon properties target box.

• Configuration of putty for the library
  • Get to the dialog box and Load "mhc" for a starting point.
  • Change the Hostname to "lib.mtholyoke.edu" and the Saved Session to "lib".
  • Change the SSH to Telnet
  • I would suggest going to the Window/Colors section and making a new "Default Background" color to make it easy to differentiate windows if you have multiple windows running.
  • Don't foget to go back to Section Sessions and Save the latest configuration.
  • Make a new putty icon, go to "properties" in the right-click menu, and add " @lib" at the end of the Target line.
  • Now you should be able to click on that icon and jump right to the library.