recompiling PHP on localhost
 

I have Xampp installed on my computer. I edited the php.ini file and removed the semi-colon to enable the curl extension. I have stopped xampp and restarted it but curl still isn't enabled. How do I recompile PHP?

I'm guessing you don't have the dll in your ext folder. Download your version of PHP from http://www.php.net, open the zip, go to "ext" and you'll find php_curl.dll. Copy that file over to your PHP/ext folder and restart Xampp.

I do that php_curl.dll in my extesions folder.

If you are doing more with your localhost then a simple test once in a while, i suggest that you don't use packages like Xampp, but install the individual components directly from the author's site.

It is not difficult to setup Apache/PHP/MySQL and you can keep it updated and have much more control over the configuration.

who is CRAZY ENOUGH to use a windows server anyway....

Nobody is talking about a server in this thread.