Requirements -

Older Version of Apache that is 1.3(however It will fullfill approx all requirements) has been designed for Windows NT (4.0), Windows 2000.However you can run apache web server at Win 95 and 98 also but it has not benn tested.If you have Win NT then you should install service pack 3 or 6 because service pack 4 created known issues with TCP/IP and WinSock integrity (Windows Sockets or WinSock is TCP/IP extension to the Windows Applications Interface that allows Windows appalications to run independently of the hardware underneath. It is just like device independence that you gain with Windows garphics Program. It can run independently of your video board.) that were resolved in service pack 5 and later service packs.

Downloading Apache for Windows - If you want to get information on latest evrsion of Apache then click here.This link will give you information about current release, any other test or beta release with complete details of mirror sites and other (anonymous) FTP sites also.

But if you are interested in the source code then download binary build of Apache for windows named as apache_1_3_#-win32-src.msi or simply apache_1_3_#-win32-no_scr.msi if you do not want to do anything with source code and want faster download. But before you are ready to donload, you should have Microsoft Installer version 1.10 or more. This source code is available in the -src.msi distribution, or from the distribution directory in zip form. But in that case if you want to compile apache yourself then there is no need to install any .msi package. The .zip file contains source code only installed as an apache module. When PHP is used it inherits Apache's user permissions (typically those of the "nobody" user).But it has many effects on security and authorization. Suppose if you are using PHP to access database unless that database has built-in access control, you will have to make that database accessible for "nobody" user. This means any malicious script could access that database and can modify that also without any username and password. It is entirely possible to make the database accessible to the "nobody" user. It means any malicious script can access that database and modify also. Its not a matter that it has a username and password or not. There is also a possiblty for a web spider that it could stumble accross DBA's web page and drop all your database.You can protect against this with Apache authorization or you can design your own access model using LDAP, .htaccess files, etc. and include that code as part of your PHP scripts. Often, once security is established to the point where the php user(here we talking about apache user) has very little risk attached to it. It is proved that PHP is now prevented from writing any files to user directories, or perhaps it has been prevented from accessing or changing databases. It has equally been secured from writing good and bad files, or entering good or bad database transactions. A frequent security mistake made at this point is to allow apache root permission, or to escalate apache's abilities in some other way. Escalating the Apache's user permission to root is extremely dangerous and it can compromise whole system, so sudo,ing, chroot,ing or otherwise running as root should not be considered by those persons who are not security professional. But some simpler solutions are also available like, by using open_basedir you can control and restrict that what directories are allowed to be used for PHP. You can also set up apache-only areas, to restrict all web based ativities to unauthorised user(non user) or non-system, files.