Wow! This thread became long is a great discussion! Thanks....
For followup to my starter post, Jon helped me harden my current
server and stop many unnecessary processes including FTP and hopefully
stop the crackers.... last night, a couple more from Canada gained access via FTP...
As a replacement for my windows FTP program I'm now using WinSCP and like it *better* than my old FTP client.
http://winscp.vse.cz/eng/
WinSCP is freeware SCP (Secure CoPy) client for Windows 95/98/2000/NT using SSH (Secure SHell). Its main function is safe copying files between local and remote computer....
I'm also, on a not so urgent schedule, planning to move this production site to a new *hardened* server right from the start!
Thank you!
-Bob