If your web development journey extends beyond the front end you will inevitably need to set up a dev box running web server software. The majority of web servers are run using Apache HTTP Server — simply referred to as Apache — which is FOSS.
Typically you will set up a WAMP server as discussed in the WAMP (& LAMP) tutorial.
The A is for Apache and you can follow the Installing Apache on a Windows dev box tutorial.
Configuring Apache is accomplished using the httpd.conf and the .htaccess file.
Configuring Apache for PHP is covered in the Installing PHP on a Windows dev box tutorial.