Unfortunately, Microsoft products are the target of many viruses and exploits. Although SSH v1 is depreciated, it is still better than no encryption at all. A shell is a command prompt window that is text based. Users type commands, and the system responds. Not quite a pretty as the graphical methods, but every bit as effective.
Many users prefer secure shell and pine to read all their email for fast no-frills computing.
Windows users can use the SFTP portion of the Secure Shell v2 software mentioned above. We're looking into options for Macintosh users. If you have additional questions or encounter problems, please contact our Helpdesk .