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What is the difference between difference between installing XAMPP as a service or as a standalone program, and why I might want to choose one method over the other?

Thanks!

What is the difference between difference between installing XAMPP as a service or as a standalone program

I guess you mean to install a server like Apache or MySQL as service, and not XAMPP.

- A service can run without a logged on user.
- A service runs in it's own security context and environment, and not in the same as the current logged on user (if any is logged on).
- You can manage services (start/stop/status/logs) through the network with the Windows management console.

Well, XAMPP is a development environment, so it should be enough to start the servers as programs when you need them (while you are working on your html/script files).