PHP5 and MySQL

I have been trying to set an area at home to run and test php and MySQL applications. I used the tutorial on http://www.ricocheting.com/server/cgi.html to install Apache, PHP, and MySQL. Everything is working great except for trying to test a simple connection to the MySQL database through php. I have seen some other people quote on how PHP5 no longer has a direct link to MySQL. My platform is Windows XP at the moment. I will shortly be partitioning two hard drives for use of Linux on one of them. I would like to know if there is a solution for WIndows XP. I have seen people just go back to php4 to correct this. I was wondering if there is a simple way I can stick with PHP5 and make my connections. I receive this error right now: Fatal error: Call to undefined function mysql_connect() in C:\public_html\MySQLphptry.php on line 18 Where line 18, is just the mydsql_connect (); command. Thank you for your help in this I know myself as well as other forums out there would like to know a simple solution if there is one. Sincerely, Terrence Mullin