ok, i'm assuming that there aren't going to be many people here that can help me but i figure that it's worth a shot anyway. i have a forum on my website. it's one of those custum ones where u download the files for it and can then custimize it anyway that u want and then upload the files to the net. well, i'm trying to set up a server on my computer. it's not going to be a real server or anything, it's just going to be on there so i can view my forum on my computer before i upload it to see if hacks (changes, kind of like patches, that allow you to do more things, like one makes it so that there is a quick reply box at the bottom of a thread) that i installed work or not. that way i won't have to go through the trouble of uploading files over and over on my 56k connection. i'm trying to use apache, php, and mysql to do this. is there anyone here who can walk me through this? i am not a n00b when it comes to computers, i am actually very good with them, it's just that i've never done this kind of thing before. i know that this can be done because a friend of mine did it on his computer but he doesn't remember exactly how he did it. i would appreciate it if someone could help me do this...

what do you expect? a complete instruction on how to install apache, php and mysql? then simply search on google. here are a couple of tips: download the windows version of apache from here: ftp://theoryx5.uwinnipeg.ca/pub/other/ many great modules are included, so that you don't have to compile yourself. perl is also included. follow the instructions where to copy files. then download php from php.net (the zip file, not the installer, the installer is not complete). follow the instructions in the package how to install. basically you just need to copy some files into the %windir%\system32 directory and update the httpd.conf of your apache server or the win registry if you use IIS. with mysql it's really easy - just install it, you can control everything using the php interface from http://www.phpmyadmin.net/ that's all. if you have several servers on your system (apache, IIS, edonkey), don't forget to set apache to an unusual port to prevent conflicts with other servers. I have mine running on 81 and IIS on 85, while edonkey runs on 80