Using PuTTy to copy files from linux server to Windows Desktop

I do not believe that works... putty emulates ssh, but doesn't show any evidence of access to the local (windows) filesystem. It can't read or write it as far as I know... it doesn't know it exists. The right tool really is ftp or secure ftp. You can also use samba or nfs to share files (not sure if windows can access nfs with 3rd party software, might exist). Samba would allow you to mount a windows share on the linux pc. There are other options too that allow you to do raw transfers bit by bit.

I'm dual booting Mint 7 now with Windows 7 and just using linux to access the server and mount my Novell drive. Much easier, just like I do on campus.

You should take a look at cygwin. That would let you run a linux-like terminal in windows that would have access to local drives and would be able to scp from linux boxes.

I am just going to throw this out there. I didn't really read any of the posts in great detail but it seems to me like you might find something like this useful. I have always wanted to try it but never have been in a situation to actually use it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSHFS

If you can ssh you can scp, they both use port 22. Use pscp, pull the files down.

http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html

Put that on your windows desktop, and either add it to your path and execute it from a CMD, or drag and drop it into your CMD, and then execute an scp command. The below command will connect you to the remote server, and place the file on your desktop.

why dont you just use psftp?
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html