Over the years, Windows became more and more friendly with respect to interaction with Linux environment. Recent implementation of "Windows Subsystem for Linux - version 2" WSL2 is a significant step toward this direction and perhaps might be one of the best approach in the near feature.
Despite that, there are tools that have became essential over the time and are more than enough for the purpose of effective interaction with Linux.
With WinSCP you can copy file between a local computer and remote servers using FTP, FTPS, SCP, SFTP, WebDAV or S3 file transfer protocols. WinSCP includes also PuTTY in the installation.
Note: The PuTTY program is included in the WinSCP installation
Download and install the .msi package. If for some reason you are restricted and cannot use the installer - download the 64-bit executable putty.exe and pageant.exe and save it for convenience on your Desktop.
The Windows Terminal is a modern, fast, efficient, powerful, and productive terminal application for users of command-line tools and shells like Command Prompt, PowerShell, and WSL.
If you need ssh only, this might be enough + some extras.
Make sure you get WSL2 since the older version 1 is outdated. You get lightweight virtual Linux environment which is really capable in contrast to the old version. GWSL is designed and works very well with WSL 2 - one of the best combination to have Linux environment running on your Windows computer.
You need to set "on-demand" or "didsabled" /be careful/ for the "X11 remote access" or fiddle with xhost +ip_address.
WSL2 and X11 complications (solved with GWSL)
The WSL2 virtual machines are running into separate virtual network space and the default DISPLAY environment is not properly setup. The easiest way to get the virtual network adapter IP address (172.19.16.1 in this example) for your instance is via:
VirtualBox is a powerful x86 and AMD64/Intel64 virtualization product for enterprise as well as home use.
As such, one can install fully virtualized Linux environment which gives you the closest Linux experience. Effectively you get access to real Linux environment while sharing the CPUs and reserve RAM on your computer.
VcXsrv is an X Server for WinNT. In order to be able to start the graphical (GUI) version of programs (e.g. xstata = X window version of STATA) on Unix servers (e.g. of the bwHPC network) under Windows, you need an X server that is on your local Computer must be installed (e.g. for Putty, Kitty, Smartty or other ssh-forwarting or in Windows 10 as X-Server Host for Linux Subsystem's).
Hint: use this settings to start the program "C:\Program Files\VcXsrv\vcxsrv.exe" :0 -ac -terminate -lesspointer -multiwindow -clipboard -wgl -dpi auto
Keep in mind that -ac option disables the access control restrictions, which is a security concern.