Roffey:
If you use windows, a useful prog is WinSCP. log in as root@ip add as normal.
It will display the directory structure etc and is useful for click editing /saving of files.
It has Putty as an accessible icon, so has much of what is needed.I had an issue with Putty and cd, which wouldn't allow long path directory access. Stepping into each directory - sub dir was allowed.
After that, long paths seemed to be acceptable. Not going to worry about why as long as is does it.
Thanks for this tip! 
i will look onto that. It would be better if I stick on Windows OS, I use it more now than the OSX here in my Macbook Pro.