I'm having a similar problem: I created a simple file (PHPBasic1.php) and saved it in the xamp/htdocs folder. When I type in 'localhost/xampp/PHPBasic1.php' in the browser, I get:
Object not found!
The requested URL was not found on this server. If you entered the URL manually please check your spelling and try again.
If you think this is a server error, please contact the webmaster.
Error 404
localhost
Apache/2.4.7 (Unix) PHP/5.4.22 OpenSSL/1.0.1e mod_perl/2.0.8-dev Perl/v5.16.3
[EDIT by Altrea: splitted from original thread because they are not related to each other]