Speaking of MySQL, installing this is our next task. Run the installer and click through all of the install wizard screens, selecting the defaults. Once the installer has finished, the configuration wizard will launch; you can click through each screen, mostly just going with the default options. On the Enable TCP/IP Networking screen, make sure the Add Firewall exception for this port checkbox is selected to prevent your firewall blocking the port used by the MySQL server. You'll also want to set a password on the Modify Security Settings page. The application should then configure itself.

Now we need to test that everything worked as it should. To open the MySQL command line interface go to:

Start -> All Programs -> MySQL -> MySQL Server 5.0 -> MySQL Command Line Client

You'll be prompted for a password. Use the one that you chose when installing MySQL. You should then see the welcome message and command prompt. At the prompt type SHOW DATABASES;

These are the built-in databases that come with MySQL and this shows that the database server is running. Enter the command USE test; in the CLI to select the test database, and then enter the command:

CREATE TABLE people (name VARCHAR(20), likes VARCHAR(20));

This will create a new table called people in the test database. To add some data to the table use the following command: INSERT INTO people VALUES ('Dan', 'House music');