there really is no need to ditch IIS for this issue. You simply need to edit the php.ini file to enable the cURL and GD libraries.
change the following two lines in the PHP.ini:
;extension=php_curl.dll
;extension=php_gd2.dll
to:
extension=php_curl.dll
extension=php_gd2.dll
then restart the server to enable GD and cURL.