Products · Product
PuTTY
Raised as a usability problem by 53 people on Hacker News over 17 years (2009–2025), in 35 threads.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads in the last 5 years.
Every issue, all time, most people first
Default dark theme text is too low contrast to read easilyUnreviewed
20092026- Default dark theme text is too low contrast to read easily2025-01-20
- Default colors make Vim comments and other text unreadable on black background2022-02-27
- Default black background too dark to see text comfortably2016-11-13
Copy/paste is unnecessarily hard to doUnreviewed
20092026- Alt-Space menu lacks the expected PuTTY session options, and copy/paste settings are hard to locate2017-05-22
- Can't copy or paste text in or out of PuTTY under Ubuntu2017-05-22
- Struggles with copy and paste in PuTTY, making the mouse easier2017-01-06
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 50 complaints
- Couldn't find a working Mac download; official site looked outdated and confusing2025-08-16
- Site breaks the browser back button, so navigation doesn't behave as expected2025-08-16
- Hard to find the site; the domain name is not meaningful, so users need a search engine2025-08-16
- Default dark theme text is too low contrast to read easily2025-01-20
- Shows SSH fingerprint in a different format than Ubuntu, so the user can't match them2024-08-04
- App makes user move mouse or bash keys to generate randomness2024-04-16
- Commenter's Windows work computer terminal (PuTTY) lacks sixel support needed to display images2024-04-16
- Connection settings are stored in the registry, with no sane way to export them2024-04-09
- Updating a shared setting like a jump host across many saved sessions is tedious, with no option inheritance2024-02-16
- Existing SSH frontends are cumbersome and hard to use with many servers2024-02-15
- Default colors make Vim comments and other text unreadable on black background2022-02-27
- Commenter finds PuTTY's interface never felt good to use2021-12-12
- Trackpad gestures accidentally paste text into the terminal2021-03-17
- Changing text size takes seven steps through settings instead of a quick zoom shortcut2021-01-30
- Terminal visuals are eye-straining and tools don't suit terminal-based workflows2020-07-04
- Clipboard integration is flaky, and window resizing behaves strangely2020-07-04
- Window won't open on second monitor, user must move it each time2019-10-01
- Walking users through the setup UI is messy and easy to get wrong2019-10-01
- Keeps forgetting where the default username setting is located2019-03-23
- Default settings must be edited before the app is usable as wanted2019-03-22
- Clicking save seems to overwrite the highlighted session instead of the typed name2019-03-22
- Pressing PageUp dumps stray characters on screen instead of scrolling2019-03-18
- Configuration menus are cluttered and disorganized, with confusing workflows2019-01-20
- IP field accepts invalid addresses, confusing modal dialogs, copy copies whole scrollback2018-05-18
- Configuration is awkward, and port forwarding requires digging through menus instead of typing a command2017-12-12
- Every misstep or disconnect requires many clicks back into configuration to retry2017-12-12
- Cannot use existing OpenSSH private keys with PuTTY, cost hours of work2017-12-12
- Alt-Space menu lacks the expected PuTTY session options, and copy/paste settings are hard to locate2017-05-22
- Can't copy or paste text in or out of PuTTY under Ubuntu2017-05-22
- Awkward for someone used to Linux terminals, so they switched to Cygwin2017-02-22
- Logging into remote machines requires clicking through the dialog, which is slower than a terminal ssh command2017-02-22
- Can't figure out how to turn off the terminal bell sound2017-02-22
- Struggles with copy and paste in PuTTY, making the mouse easier2017-01-06
- Setting up a dynamic SSH tunnel takes many clicks through the interface2016-11-15
- Default black background too dark to see text comfortably2016-11-13
- Commenter dislikes the PuTTY app itself without stating a specific problem2016-11-02
- Command history isn't reprinted correctly after the terminal width changes2016-07-16
- Default blue colour is unreadable and default codepage is wrong2016-06-28
- Saved host management UI is badly broken and hard to work with2015-05-20
- Interface feels dated, like Windows 95, and poorly designed for users2015-05-20
- Right-click pastes clipboard contents unexpectedly, so people trip into it2015-05-20
- Not obvious how to use the profile-switching part of the interface2015-05-20
- Connection changes are lost unless saved before connecting, which is easy to miss2014-05-20
- Text does not rewrap when the window is resized, so long lines stay cut off2013-03-07
- Long lines don't rewrap when the window is resized, so output is hard to read2013-03-07
- Configuring unicode, backspace and TERM settings is unintuitive on first use2012-04-30
- Must scroll a lot to find one saved session among many2011-10-14
- Terminal stays the same color after chaining SSH, so color misleads about which machine is active2011-01-11
- Cannot find a workflow to save server configs yet be prompted for the private key each login2010-11-20
- Accidentally pressing Ctrl-S freezes output with no visible indication, so the session looks dead2010-04-28