I know I keep posting to myself and thanks office172461. You gave me the direction I needed and I successfully got the XAMPP to work.
This thread info is good for anybody who has made the stupid mistakes I did.
I originally I installed Apache 2.2.8 and downloaded the PHP 5.2.10.
Well I guess you need to tie these 2 things together and it was really hard to understand thru all the notes how and what you are changing. I could get Apache to work, but not the PHP.
I read about XAMPP which is tied together and thought what a great idea.
Whoever reads this thread, make sure when you remove Apache or XAMPP with a new ver., you must delete every reference in the registry. Nothing will work until you do.
XAMPP is working now and thanks for the direction.
Mike