RE: Emacs unconditionally loads tramp.el

[Drew Adams]

    PuTTY comes with an online manual which is very readable and includes
    detailed explanation of every option.  But in general, the defaults
    work well.
    
    After unzipping the executables, all you need to do to configure PuTTY
    is to fill the few items in the session configuration dialog that pops
    when you click on PuTTY's icon, and then save the session definitions--
    they will be used automatically for that host thereafter.  The only
    things that I change, apart of the host address and the session name,
    is the location of the private key file, and sometimes the auto-login
    username.  (I also play with colors, but that's just because I'm a
    color customization junkie.)  That's it!
    
    Plink is a command-line utility that is an ssh work-alike, it accepts
    a somewhat different, but similar, set of command-line options.
    
    I don't think you will have any problems with PuTTY wrt Cygwin (for
    example, PuTTY opens its own window, unrelated to the shell's window),
    but only experience will show, since I myself don't use Cygwin at all.
    
Thanks, Eli. I'll give it a try when I get some time.