SSH

SSH, which stands for "secure shell", is a way to log into a server and execute commands on a command line.

Windows

1. Find and download putty.exe on this page:

    http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html 

The program doesn't need to be installed; just open the file you downloaded whenever you want to run PuTTY.

2. Open putty.exe

3. Enter "wso.williams.edu" (or whatever) for the host, and "SSH" for the protocol.

4. Click "Open"

5. Enter your WSO login and password when prompted.

6. If this is your first time connecting from this computer, you might get a message like this:

    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. 
    The server's key fingerprint is: 
    ssh-rsa 1024 7b:e5:6f:a7:f4:f9:81:62:5c:e3:1f:bf:8b:57:6c:5a 
    If you trust this host, hit Yes to add the key to 
    PuTTY's cache and carry on connecting. 
    If you want to carry on connecting just once, without 
    adding the key to the cache, hit No. 
    If you do not trust this host, hit Cancel to abandon the 
    connection. 

If this is your first time, don't sweat it, just say Yes. If you get this message and this is not your first time SSH'ing from this machine, you might drop us a line. For more information about host keys, read this page:

    http://the.earth.li/~sgtatham/putty/0.55/htmldoc/Chapter2.html 

7. You're in! Happy computing.

Mac/Linux

Let's say your user name is ewilliam and you want to log in to wso.williams.edu. From a command line, type

ssh ewilliam@wso.williams.edu

Enter your password when prompted. If it's your first time and you get a warning about host keys, just say "yes".