2 Installation questions

I'm a newbie and feel overwhelmed with the installation -
So, bought e-start zen cart and trying to follow the instructions BUT -

as far as configuring apache (I've been successful up to this pint) on local machine the instructions say to edit
xampp-home/apache/conf/httpd.conf file but I only have httpd and httpd.default in that file structure.

I am running VISTA - although I don't think that would affect file names....

AND - my big question - is it necessar to install on local and the server? That isn't really explained clearly (at least for me) - the book just kinda jumps into the local installation although makes it clear it's no very easy to do - Is it absolutely necessary????

The point of having a local installation is to let you get used to it first, have the idea how ZC works. Also you don't want to put an incomplete store online.

You can do all of your customization on your live host by using the Down for Maintenance mode and/or an index.html as a gateway page that has a notification you are still under construction. So, yes, you can ignore the instructions for installing and using Xampp.

OK - I was wondering if it was a necessity or not - sounds like a good idea since it seems complicated to set up.....thanks.