What software is good for remotely accessing the vps? I tried putty/ssh but personally it isn't my cup of tea. I know how to do it and command line isn't a huge deal but it is a pain in the ass to always do it.
WinSCP has a nice GUI, and even has a built-in terminal for use to remotely control your VPS...
I use it from time-to-time and it helps me get the job done, I suggest you try it. http://winscp.net/eng/index.php
Though, if your looking for a GUI to remotely control your server instead of using command line... that will all determine on the OS your VPS is using
I suppose you could accomplish this by simply tunnelling a VNC session through ssh. Here are some good howtos on how to do just that... http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/VNC-Server