Okay it's kind of weird to post a solution for your own problem, but just in case anyone needs to know I found a simple solution.
Wampserver 2.2 is a great program that installs a localhost sever with Apache, PHP and MySQL hosted on your Windows PC! Almost any version of PHP, MySQL and Apache are supported as add-ons/apps.
I've mentioned before how much I like to use and support open-source projects and that's one thing that makes this software so great. It's free and it's open-source!
I'll have to say that overall I found the program to be difficult to install and set up properly. It took me a couple of days to finally install some test files into the host and see them display. There was a conflict with localhost at first. Then I couldn't get into phpMyAdmin, but once I got that sorted out it was smooth sailing.
Another bad thing I figured out in the process: Support is shit at wampserver's forum. Several other people reported the same problems and error messages I had received, but
not one thread had been solved by staff. I found my answers on a PHP/SQL forum that I frequent. Not only that, but the answers that these other users received were inane and didn't even have a lot to do with the question.
Having said all that, wampserver 2.2 is working fine on my PC as we speak. I have uploaded a test copy of MyBB(this forum's software) and can now test themes without have to modify the site while it is live. This means no more moving logos and such. I can just get it right, test it in several browsers and then import it and we are in business.
