Xampp will let you run just one simple automatic setup file to properly configure apache, php and mysql for your computer. This is especially useful for the Microsoft Windows platform, which doesn't have any package management tools and thus normally leaves the installation process complicated. Note that Xampp is available for Windows, Mac, Linux and Solaris.

With this installed, you'll be able to use your own computer just like a web site -- except with considerably better connection speed since you don't have to go through an internet connection. Just open your favorite web browser and type in http://localhost/ and you'll get a list of your directories. Copy your WSN Links folder into the /htdocs/ subdirectory of where you installed xampp, and you'll be able to run it by typing http://localhost/wsnlinks in your browser (once you visit setup.php to install it, of course). This lets you test changes more quickly and more safely on your own computer, instead of on a live website. You can even contruct your whole directory structure and add all your links on your own computer and then just backup the database and restore it to your server (though if you do that you'll need to edit your config.php to set the proper directory url and file path after moving to the remote host).

To create the database for your install you should find phpmyadmin at http://locahost/phpmyadmin . Your mysql user and password will default to root with no password.