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What is Telnet and how to use it in Windows 10?

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Updated onOctober 4, 2023

updated onOctober 4, 2023

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If you’re not familiar with it, today we’re going to explain you howTelnetworks and can you use it onWindows 10.

The development of Internet saw the invention of many protocols that allowed us to use it better. One of these protocols was Telnet.

What is Telnet and how does it work?

What is Telnet and how does it work?

Telnetis anInternet protocolthat allows you to connect to a different computer on your localnetworkor on the Internet.

Telnetwas invented in 1969, and it’s often considered an ancestor of modern Internet.

Today most users use a graphical user interface, but whenTelnetwas invented there were no browsers or graphical operating systems. Therefore, users had to rely solely oncommand lineinterface.

It’s worth mentioning thatTelnetstill works like it did decades ago, andTelnetclients are available for almost any platform.

Telnetchanged the way how people use Internet because in the time beforeTelnetusers had to manually use the server in order to get certain data.

WithTelnet, users could access the server remotely from the comfort of their home for the first time.

In addition to remote access, multiple users were able to connect to the server overTelnet. Therefore,it’s not hard to see howTelnetinfluenced the development of the Internet.

We have to mention that there are two different terms when it comes toTelnet:Telnetserver andTelnetclient. The former is a computer designed to run as aTelnetserver.

You can easily turn your Windows PC into aTelnetserver and you should be able to access it overTelnet.

Bear in mind that having a publicIP addressleaves your computer open for access by any computer on the Internet, so be sure to use a firewall in order to protect your PC from unauthorized remote access.

The same principles apply to running Telnet on Windows 11, so make sure to check it out if you’re running the latest OS from Microsoft.

Telnetclient is a PC that uses aTelnetconnection to connect to aTelnetserver. In fact, you can useTelnetfrom Windows 10 by following these steps:

After you installTelnet, you can start it by doing the following:

Why is Telnet obsolete?

Although runningTelneton Windows 10 is fairly simple, the question remains why would you useTelnetfor?Telnetis an outdated protocol, and most people don’t use it anymore.

This protocol is great if you are a computer geek, and you want to access Internet by using command line. Unfortunately, there aren’t manyTelnetservers available nowadays, so you might have to do some research before you find one.

One of the biggest flaws ofTelnetis its lack of security.Telnettransmits all the data between the client and the server without any encryption which means that almost anyone can intercept your data.

This is especially important if you’re sending sensitive information overTelnet, such as your username or password. Due to lack of encryption, malicious users can easily steal your password and see all the data between theTelnetclient and server.

Also, Telnetdoesn’t have authentication, which means that malicious users can easily intercept your traffic. Lastly,Telnethas several additional security vulnerabilities which make it quite unsafe to use.

Even thoughTelnetinWindows 10might not be the safestInternet protocol, newer protocols, such as SSH for example, were inspired byTelnet. They are designed to fix many flaws that originalTelnethad.

Telnetmight not be as popular as it was a few decades ago. Stll, it’s certain thatTelnetchanged the way how Internet works forever.

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More about the topics:windows 10

Milan Stanojevic

Windows Toubleshooting Expert

Milan has been enthusiastic about technology ever since his childhood days, and this led him to take interest in all PC-related technologies. He’s a PC enthusiast and he spends most of his time learning about computers and technology.

Before joining WindowsReport, he worked as a front-end web developer. Now, he’s one of the Troubleshooting experts in our worldwide team, specializing in Windows errors & software issues.

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Milan Stanojevic

Windows Toubleshooting Expert

Before joining WindowsReport, he worked as a front-end web developer. Now, he’s specialized in Windows errors & software issues.