"Dedicated" servers at home

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Disclaimer: i typed all this myself, none of this is copied from other sites, this is based on my own experience.
THIS IS IMPORTANT!!! THIS TUTORIAL IS FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE USING A DEVELOPER MACHINE (workstation). THOSE WHO USE A BIG SERVER LIKE DELL POWEREDGE, THIS IS USELESS.

You can set up a dedicated server at home. you need:

• Computer (on 24/7)
• Internet Connection (24/7)

The minus is that you need to switch them on 24/7 and that you need to fix technical errors yourself. (Google provides a lot of solutions)
Plus:

• Never be frustrated at downtime, you decide whether you want the server to be down.
• No up load time, just transfer files to the web destination folder.
• lots more!

Step 1
install apache
url is
http://httpd.apache.org/download.cgi
choose this one (setting up SSL is damn hard, if you don't want to use https:// , download this one.
Win32 Binary without crypto (no mod_ssl) (MSI Installer)

Step 2
obvious!
INSTALL APACHE.
run that .msi file
done!

Step 3 (getting harder)
edit the httpd.conf file
go here
C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Apache2.2\conf
open the httpd.conf
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!IMPORTANT:: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!
!!!!!!WINDOWS VISTA USERS CANNOT SAVE THE !!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!FILE DIRECTLY, SAVE A COPY AT DESKTOP, !!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!MAKE CHANGES THEN REPLACE THAT ONE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!AT C:\Program Files\....... \conf !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Find line

DocumentRoot "C:/Program Files/Apache Software Foundation/Apache2.2/htdocs"

put a # before that line (comment it)
add new line after it

DocumentRoot "C:/(your directory here)"

NOTE: all backslashes in the directory must be changed to forward slashes.
that is the root of the files in the server

a few lines after, you see

<Directory "C:/Program Files/Apache Software Foundation/Apache2.2/htdocs">

comment that line (add a # before it)
change it to

<Directory "(your DocumentRoot)">

NOTE:still, all backslashes in the directory must be changed to forward slashes.
that is the root of the files in the server

a few lines later, you see

AllowOverride None

comment it
add line

AllowOverride All

That's mainly it!
open firefox (i hate IE)
type http://localhost
you will see a page like this

It works!

now, go to your document root and add files, for other people to access your site, go to a IP checker to check your external IP address, type that in the browser address bar and you will go to your site
you can install php and mysql if you want, their documentation is simple enough.