An "aha" moment, and a solution...or at least something that worked for me. I had this mystery and found out what was going on after hours of frustration...changing config files only to find no changes reflected...uninstalling and reinstalling only to find the problem persisted. The problem began, unknown to me and perhaps to many others, because I installed to C:\program files. Microsoft doesn't like applications to be installed with user configurable files in the same directory as the program, and especially not in the c:\program files folder. Therefore, without telling you, Bill creates a new directory tree called "virtual store", which is pretty hard to find. There you'll find your whole installation mirrored, and the config files which do not get cleaned out on reinstallation. Also, the config files you think you change in c:\program files\easyPhp are not even looked at by Windows as it's looking in virtual store at the hard-to-find mirror copies of your config files, which of course you have no idea exist. Google "windows virtual store" for lively debate for and against application writers who choose to write software with user-configurable files in the same directory. Microsoft claims to have been telling writers not to do this for ten years or more.
Solution that worked for me, assuming you installed in c:\program files:
Uninstall easyPhp. If you have any databases or websites, the uninstall will leave these. So after installation, look in your easyPhp\mysql folder for any of your databases and move them somewhere else safely, look also in your easyPhp\www folder and move them out safely. Keep anything else you changed. Then delete the easyPhp folder so nothing remains in c:\program files. Then find your virtual store directory with the mirrored installation of parts of easyPhp and look for any content that was created by your activities while you used easyPhp (for example, "lost" files that your php code wrote to your www directory may be there, too). Once you have moved or copied any file you need, then delete the easyPhp directory tree entirely from virtual store.
Specify a different directory for the fresh installation (something other than c:\program files). I used d:\program files location, but I think any folder other than c:\program files may work OK (perhaps someone more knowledgeable about virtual store can verify that, as I'm only guessing).
Everything worked like a dream after that. Big thanks to Thierry and his two colleagues for a great program suite easyPhp.
