[eluser]jedd[/eluser]
I shall return to the rest of this subject soon, but here's a software versioning aside, based on what you said above.
Read this story - the [url="http://tom.preston-werner.com/2009/05/19/the-git-parable.html"]git parable[/url] - it's aimed at git, but it's ultimately applicable to almost any code versioning software. It'll take you 10-15 minutes to read, but if you've not used a cvs before, you definitely should spend that time reading it first.
Read [url="http://spheredev.org/wiki/Git_for_the_lazy"]Git for the lazy[/url] - an excellent overview. Handy reference, too.
Read [url="http://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/everyday.html"]Everyday git - 20 commands you'll often use[/url] - similarly good overview and handy reference.
Both those will give you a bit of a tutorial, bit of an overview, without going into too much depth.
I'd suggest you allocate a few hours to - download git, install it, experiment with it using the stuff in those last two URL's, and see if if clicks.
I think that once you use a versioning tool, you'll a) wonder how you ever lived with out it, and b) you'll never work without one again. Given they are free, very lightweight, and don't ever get in your way (you're still allowed to zip up everything you've got if want and stick it in an archive somewhere), there's no real downside to using one. Note that other people will recommend svn (subversion). SVN is what I used to use, and I certainly liked it at the time. It gets a lot of bad press, especially from Linus Torvalds (who happened to write git
but I think for a new-to-cvs-tools person, git will make more sense and will simply be easier to set up.
Finally, you can read through the definitive git guide - an online book called [url="http://progit.org/book/ch6-5.html"]Pro git[/url] - but it's heavier going, and is obviously much larger. Good to bookmark, though.
