1. Don't install 1.8.3-1 on top of 1.7.3. First back up and uninstall 1.7.3.
2. This link /Applications/XAMPP/xamppfiles/xampp security will not work.
3. First open Terminal and type in cd /Applications/XAMPP/xamppfiles to get to the xampp files folder
4. Then type in sudo ./xampp security
5. Follow the instructions. Tip, I change everything to the same password since I am not running anything incredibly sensitive security wise.
Below is what you will see in terminal if you did each step correctly. This is for OSX 10.9 Mavericks.
Natalie:okanime$ cd /Applications/XAMPP/xamppfiles
Natalie:xamppfiles okanime$ sudo ./xampp security
XAMPP: Quick security check...
XAMPP: Your XAMPP pages are NOT secured by a password.
XAMPP: Do you want to set a password? [yes] yes
XAMPP: Password:
XAMPP: Password (again):
XAMPP: Password protection active. Please use 'xampp' as user name!
XAMPP: MySQL is accessable via network.
XAMPP: Normaly that's not recommended. Do you want me to turn it off? [yes] yes
XAMPP: Turned off.
XAMPP: Stopping MySQL...ok.
XAMPP: Starting MySQL...ok.
XAMPP: The MySQL/phpMyAdmin user pma has no password set!!!
XAMPP: Do you want to set a password? [yes] yes
XAMPP: Password:
XAMPP: Password (again):
XAMPP: Setting new MySQL pma password.
XAMPP: Setting phpMyAdmin's pma password to the new one.
XAMPP: MySQL has no root passwort set!!!
XAMPP: Do you want to set a password? [yes] yes
XAMPP: Write the password somewhere down to make sure you won't forget it!!!
XAMPP: Password:
XAMPP: Password (again):
XAMPP: Setting new MySQL root password.
XAMPP: Change phpMyAdmin's authentication method.
XAMPP: The FTP password for user 'daemon' is still set to 'xampp'.
XAMPP: Do you want to change the password? [yes] yes
XAMPP: Password:
XAMPP: Password (again):
XAMPP: Reload ProFTPD...not running.
XAMPP: Done.