What is an SSH and telenet client

This morning my PC without any direction from me downloaded an application called "puTTY" now i have read a lot of blurb about this program

but what does it actually do??

P.S. I have not installed it and am curious as to how it came to my PC.

Thanks in advance for any help
Bill

EDIT I installed a legal copy of ACDsee pro yesterday.

 

PuTTY is an application that can be used to connect remotely to computers, with proper authentication. For instance, I had a buddy in Iraq that used it to access his home server in the States to pull files, etc. to his computer in Iraq.

It's NOT an unsafe application. It's NOT used to "hack" into peoples' computers, unless the authentication (Windows logon user/password, etc.) for the remote computer is saved on the computer being used to access it. It's been awhile since I've messed with PuTTY, so I can't even remember if it allows you to save all information necessary for logging on.

Obviously, it can be used for more than simply accessing another computer. It can also function as a network/server access utility, etc. I'm sure the tasks it can be used for are much more than even I realize.

I've never heard of PuTTY being rolled into an installation package for other software, though I'm sure that's how you ended up installing it.

Here's the "what is PuTTY" FAQ from the official website:

http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/faq.html#faq-what

 

Thanks for the info I was not overly worried about it as my AV functioned perfectly and flagged it before it was installed. i have no need to access my PC from other locations so it will now be deleted.

Thanks again.
Bill