Les Mikesell wrote:

It should work, but NX is nicer in many situations. If you just want to run a few applications and don't need the whole desktop you can start cygwin xwin in -multiwindow mode, then start the apps you want in your putty window using & to background them and get the prompt back. Each app will open its own window on your desktop. A variation on this theme is to drag the application launchers you need from the gnome menu onto the desktop or in a folder on the desktop and start nautilus from that first putty window. Clicking on the launchers will start each app in its own window.

Well after your advice I thought I better had take a look at FreeNX. 10 minutes later, all up and running and I agree, it is a lot nicer solution. In case anyone else is considering FreeNX, check out http://wiki.centos.org/FreeNX follow the write up and you will be up and running in 10 mins. Thanks Les and the author of the wiki page.

Dean.