I need to host a web site for testing purposes, but my only experience
with the hosting side of web development is working with
pre-configured web servers.  I need to host a web page from my
computer.  I run WinXP Pro, have a static IP, and this is only
designed for a quick test of a site.  I have a lot of experience with
computers and software development, but now I need to switch gears to
web dev.  I learn fast, so ...

A good answer would be links to 2-5 great web sites that describe how
to configure a personal computer(of the specifications listed above)
to serve a web page.

I'll make this part a second question if need be, but i'll tip an
extra $2.50 for 2 great links on configuring windows server 2003 from
scratch to serve web pages, and an additional $2.50 for a web hosting
company that host sites and has Microsoft SQL Server that is dirt
cheap...<$50 a year (the lower the best).
thanks in advance

http://cybernut.com/guides/apache.html  Guide to Using the Apache Web Server
http://www.elated.com/tutorials/programming/asp/webserver/  Doesn't
cover XP but I'm just assuming its about the same really.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/events/winxppro/tnti-32.mspx
This is just about it i believe and introduction.
As for hosting, i'm not really sure... Try http://www.fatcow.com/ or
http://www.dreamhost.com/

Alright, hoped that helped sort of. Let me know?

http://httpd.apache.org/docs-2.0/platform/windows.html ( < More info
on Apache)As far as i know Apache should host any type of page
including .net.
I'm not sure about the Microsoft Web Server; I haven't had any
personal experience with it and I'm not finding anything actually
specific on how it would run on XP pro. Brilliant! here's something i
didn't find yesturday. But you don't HAVE to use Microsoft's program.
Here's a listing of different type web servers which probably have
instructions.
http://microsoft.toddverbeek.com/phttpd.html

By the way, i'm not a researcher, Sorry. Forgot to answer that on my
last comment. =/