Setting up a simple website

[Lemur]

Microsoft Internet Information Services. It's a package of services you can install from your Windows XP disc, includes things like FTP server, HTTP server, and a passel of obscure features. It's very commonly used for small, inexpensive, DIY hosting. Not terribly secure, and I think it may be the most-understood-by-hackers software in the world, but it's freely included in your XP CD.

I tried to set up a simple FTP server using IIS a couple of years ago, and it was an utter nightmare. Nothing worked. I pulled large tufts of lemur fur out of my head trying to get it to go live. In the end I found out that my ISP at the time (Time Warner Cable) was blocking me from initiating service, so it wasn't even Microsoft's fault.

-edit-

Oh yeah, I was going to actually make a point, but i got lost in the painful memories. This is the thing: Almost all ISPs frown on you hosting a web site (or any server) through their connection. They usually provide a token amount of server space you can use on their hardware, but they may take all sorts of irritating steps to make hosting your own a hassle.