hello there peeps!

Not being a majory experienced linux user, I basically havent a clue as to how to get ssh up and running. I need to encrypt files between a "hardened" (haha) windows xp machine and my linux machine. When i get broadband, its going to go to the linux machine, and im gonna network the windowsmachine to it. I want to encrypt all files going between the two, and have the linux machine work like a windows bug murderer, so that people who want to break into my windows machine have as many problems on their plate as possible.

if i have just spouted total claptrap, apologies. I was running slackware (very secure) but it's too much of a pain to get things running (ALSA hell etc) so ive opted for SUSE (not really secure but better than windows and easy to use) and i just want this running asap!
any help would be greatly appreciated.

cheers everyone!

Didn't understand about 1/3 of that, but I think I get the general question.

To enable a service so that it will automatically start on boot, use the chkconfig command. To enable sshd use:
chkconfig sshd on

To start the actual service, you can either reboot or you can use the service control scripts in /etc/init.d. To turn on sshd use:
/etc/init.d/sshd start

Note that it will not be started if you reboot. Also note that you'll need to be root to use either of those commands. You can then transfer files using ssh encryption with the scp command:

scp /path/to/file username@remotehost:/path/to/destination

If you need an ssh client (ssh, sftp, scp and related utilities) on Windows XP, you can use PuTTY.