Lynda.com not only tells us what software we need, it tells us where to get it.  In the 4th and 5th video provided for free on their website it shows you how to download and install the necessary software. So far so good. If this were a talent competition I would have to say Lynda is looking sweet. Anyway to make it even easier for you I will also provide the links to the software I am going to use. According to Lynda.com we need to download two things for starters.

1.  Wamp 5
2. PHP add-on

I am downloading [02/15/2007] – WAMP5 1.7.0 with Apache 2.2.4 and PHP 5.2.1

and

PHP4.4.5 ADD-ON for WAMP5 1.7.0 (6 Mo)

If you are reading this at a later date you will probably be downloading newer versions. New versions usually mean safety so it might be recommended to keep your software up to date. I don’t yet know how easy/difficult/fun/tedious that is going to be.