Windows 7: How do I set up a "media server"?

I have Windows 7 64 bit (brand new) and want to set up a "media server" so that I can securely access files over the internet.

I don't want to access my entire computer, but something like a front end http page that has links to files I link.

I fear this is pretty basic, please forgive my ignorance.

HTTP access is not recommended unless you have the skills and time to learn to run a web server securely. This is non-trivial.

The easiest solution for moderately skilled users is to share your media folders on your LAN as normal and then connect to your LAN remotely something using a zero-configuration VPN tool like Hamachi. You'll be able to see your shared folders and other LAN resources through the VPN when connected via the Internet.

Things get a lot more complicated if you want to transcode your media into lower bitrate versions to cope with low upload bandwidth availability.

What do you want your media server for? If you're just talking serving up web pages, that's a web server. You can use IIS, Apache, etc.

If you want to stream media, you can go the Linux route (more free apps), instead a Helix server (I think it's still free for limited streams) for something like Flash Media Server (FMS) which starts to cost bucks.