SecureCRT, created by VanDyke Software, is a commercial SSH client for Microsoft Windows 95 through Windows 2003. It is structured as a terminal program; in fact, it started life as the terminal program CRT, another VanDyke product. As a result, SecureCRT's terminal capabilities are quite configurable. It includes emulation of several terminal types, logins via Telnet as well as SSH, a scripting language, a keymap editor, SOCKS firewall support, chat features, and much more. We will focus only on its SSH capabilities, however.
SecureCRT supports both SSH-1 and SSH-2 in a single program. Other important features include port forwarding, X11 packet forwarding, support for multiple SSH identities, and an agent. Secure file copy is accomplished not only by an scp-type program, vcp, but also by ZModem, an old protocol for uploading and downloading files. (The remote machine must have ZModem installed.) If ZModem is used while you're logged in via SSH, these file transfers are secure.
We've organized this chapter to mirror the first part of the book covering Unix SSH implementations. When appropriate, we refer you to the earlier material for more detailed information.
Our discussion of SecureCRT is based on a prerelease of Version 5.0, dated December 2004.
SecureCRT may be purchased and downloaded from VanDyke Software:
A free evaluation version is available, expiring 30 days after installation, so you can try before you buy. If you do purchase the program, VanDyke will provide a serial number and license key.
Installation is straightforward and glitch-free. The software is distributed as a single .exe file; simply run it to install the program. Follow the onscreen instructions, installing the software in any folder you like. We accepted the default choices.