Ok, back to being thick for a second I'm afraid.

I'm not at all sure where libmysql.dll comes into the equation, so I've
left it alone fro the minute.

The line in the phpinfo actually reads :

C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32 \Wbem;C:\WINDOWS\php;%SytemRoot&\php\ext


So it's not a blooper as in me typing incorrectly ( although I did add
an extra % at the end )

so should there not be a % at the beginning and end of the SystemRoot,
rather than an & ???

and you're right, I have no idea what the C:\Windows\php is about as
there is no php directory under the Windows folder.

Any ideas where I can can "play" with the path settings ?? Can't seem
to see them in the httpd.conf file

And hey, after this MySQL thing is done, I need to make sure I can use
the MOD_REWRITE stuff. It's the original reason I decided to Install
apache. So I'm not done with you yet my friend....

But many many thanks for you help so far, it was driving me mad....
Keep it up, and we'll have it resolved before Christmas....... ;o)