I don't use it a lot....by the time I get a wordpress theme just the way I like it, I'm done in for a few months So, I'll just get my work done quickly for now, and worry about solving the "real problem" when my brain isn't feeling so mushy!
Had a similar problems.I corrected it by clicking on port check in xampp control panel.Pop screen showed me that port 80 was being used by skype so i disabled skype and it worked.
Ok I will jump in here now as I am now WAY in over my head and struggling with Xampp. After some frustration last night I was able to get both Apache and MySql running, now I cannot access localhost.
Port 80 seems free when i use the Xampp port check feature.