confused about installing on my PC

Can some kind soul please explain to me in plain English how this works?:wacko: This is my confusion: my ZC is running on a host provider - I have set up a few things in the cart but I did not install ZC on my computer. I think I should have in order to keep a copy of the default templates in my PC- right? I am trying to do some advanced customization and I don't think I can without having created "magic" for my override directory. Thank you so much in advance!!

You should at least have backup copies on your home computer.

Use an FTP program to copy all the Zen cart files. Then use phpmyadmin to export the database.

If you want to be able to view the shopping cart on your local machine, you will have to install Apache, php, MySQL. A good pre-packaged deal is avalable at the XAMPP web site:

http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html

http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=61069&highlight=xampp
Tutorial for Xampp at url above