Writing an xml file

Hi all,
I’ve built my own “update center” to update xml files online - using PHP. everything works great and i’m happy with it.

now i would like to use this system locally. i understand that there are security issues concerning this when using flash. what are my options? is there a way to do this?
i’ve thought of the possibility of installing an apache server locally… would that work?
i’ve herd of 3rd party software that convert swfs to exes that are able to write to disk - can anyone recommend me a good but CHEAP one?

any help or suggestions would be great!
thanks in advance