What many people do to verify PHP and any PHP extensions that might be required are actually installed is to create a simple php_info page that will give you a wealth of information. Create a simple file and call it something like test.php with the following content:

<?php
php_info();
?>

If PHP is working you should see a wealth of information when you visit http://www.yoursite.com/test.php, and if it doesn't then the problem is on the server and PHP might not be enabled. BTW, you can get hosting for cheap or free from a wide variety of places so you might want to try a different provider if they can't get PHP working for you.

Kelly

Error PDOStatement: Nom du champ 'filter' déjà utilisé

(field name 'filter' already exists)

Again, I lack foundational knowledge to dig out of this so I don't know if my first problem of being prompted to download index.php is solved yet and I'm on problem number two or not. Any help is appreciated.

Apache : 2.4.9
MySQL : 5.6.17
PHP : 5.5.12

Selfoss 2.12
default .htaccess file from Selfoss package and Apache httpd.conf (I can provide either upon request).