Uploading/maintaining site

Yes, you can do that:
https://premium.wpmudev.org/blog/how-to-install-wordpress-locally-for-pcwindows-with-xampp/

Once you have that running, you can do everything right there on your own machine. then when the time comes to transfer it to “live” at a host somewhere, you will upload your /wp-content/ folder and your database to a new WordPress installation there. At that point, the database will need some updating to work properly (using a new URL and finding /wp-content/), and that is about the trickiest part in all of this. After that, you can still develop your theme locally and simply upload it and run it, but copying more database content to the site will again require dealing with URL updates.

Thanks for the info, I’m sure it will be helpful. What I could really do with a step-by-step resource or an ‘idiot’s guide’ to how to do this. I really am a complete novice and am learning as I go along.
The business of uploading new content from my localhost installation to the internet server without overwriting posts/comments, etc. is what bothers me.
Thanks for your kind help.

What I could really do with a step-by-step resource or an ‘idiot’s guide’ to how to do this. I really am a complete novice and am learning as I go along.

The link I posted is where I found what I needed to get XAMPP going, and I used that page because it was the simplest I had found. So if you wish, find a place on your computer where you would like to have your local environment installed, then make a folder named ‘MyLocalStuff’ or whatever and then tell the XAMPP installer to go there. If you have an anti-virus program running in the background, I would suggest temporarily turning that off beforehand since XAMPP is likely to mention that to you anyway if you do not. When the XAMPP installer begins, you can select your installation location and let it run…and then after getting XAMPP running, WordPress should be just a few minutes away. Post your questions that come up as you go right here.

The business of uploading new content from my localhost installation to the internet server without overwriting posts/comments, etc. is what bothers me.

For edits or single pages at any given time, I just use side-by-side browser tabs to copy-and-paste from one site to the other. For several new items at once, I think Tools > Export and Tools > Import (accessing the database) at the Dashboard can do that without duplicating existing content…and you can experiment with that a bit after your local is up and running.

Thank you for your kind steer. Will try your suggestions.