"You mean you want to use it as a web server? It will also depend on what your upload speed, since most of the services offered to the general public do not have enough bandwidth for that.
You need to set up an ftp server to be able to do it, ie filezilla server or try ssh on windows it has sftp which is more safe, here's a link for that http://www.digitalmediaminute.com/article/1487/setting-up-a-sftp-server-on-windows If you have a router, you will need to forward the 80 port to your computer. And check the apache settings to see if you are not denying everyone. No, you don't need any kind of ""server"" operating system, if you can install apache, you can run it, however I don't know if windows 7 has any quirks with it."
