As any other web developer, before uploading something functional to a remote server, first of all i need to test my work on my computer, right? I've tried many packages like TopServer (not supported any more), STPServer, EasyPHP, but from all that i tried i stuck with Xampp.

XAMPP is an easy to install distribution of Apache+MySQL+PHP+FTP+some more additional things, which comes in a single installation file. What i liked most of it, it is the fact it is updated as fast as an update to PHP,Apache or MySQL is available, so i always test my works with the latest versions of these components.  Then, this distribution has a very well built manager which lets you easily start or stop any of the services you want (apache/mysql/filezilla/mercury) with a single click, so there is no more need to play with the comand line. Then, it has a good application,Mercury, which lets you test your works which make use of the mail() function like in real time. Most of the time i do my work in Windows (because i need to work with Photoshop also), but when i want to work in Linux Ubuntu i easily start LAMPP (the Linux distribution, which you can download from the same site) and work like in windows. In my opinion this is the best distribution of Apache+MySQL+PHP+FTP of all currently available on the net because of its flexibility and frequent updates. You may search on Google and see how many share my idea and if you are looking for a web server package start with this one.

Official XAMPP/LAMPP website: http://www.apachefriends.org/