I just installed XAMPP 1.7.7 on an up to date Windows 7 Professional system. I unzipped the files to an appropriate folder rather than run the install. I then made sure I could start apache. I also put a couple html, php, css, and jpg files in the appropriate places and verified they would run. Then, I shut everything down.
Then I noticed an icon I'd never seen before in the Windows System Tray. I clicked on it and it turned out Windows was advising me to back up the key for the Windows Encrypting File System.
I've never intentionally encrypted any files on this system. I think that installing and running XAMPP is the only thing I've done this morning that might have brought this on. I'll repeat that I copied the files from the zip file, added some html, php, css, and jpg, then accessed two pages.
I did run the backup to a usb drive to be safe.
Can anyone offer any information on this?