我无法登录mySQL Server（CMD）或phpMyAdmin（Firefox）

I've been recently intrigued by the log-in system for websites and wanted to test that out and see if I could accomplish anything on my own.

I decided to go with the phpMyAdmin route, and installed the mySQL (DB) as well as the PHP files and other related items.

First off, I had no clue where to start, and after an attempt at Nginx (w/ Winginx), I gave up and went with the only other route I could see at the time: IIS7.

I basically followed the entire tutorial provided in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8kOKDdLrfc

I activated some random things from the Window Features utility(?) and from there had access to the IIS Management tool—or whatever you want to call it.

After getting that to run it was suggested that I install the MS Web Platform Installer, which let me download the current(?) PHP files and such. Before doing that however, I had already installed mySQL and set-up my password for the root user.

Once I had gotten everything installed and in it's proper place, I decided to test out logging into phpMyAdmin, and it worked.

I did notice however that at the bottom of the start page, there was a small block notifying me that I had not yet set the BLOWFISH pass. I have no idea what that is and I've never worked with any kind of development before. Upon success at logging into phpMyAdmin, I decided to call it a day and logged off.

This morning, I started up Firefox and tried logging into phpMyAdmin, but failed.
My theories at this point are:

mySQL isn't running.
Password somehow got changed for root
I have no clue what's going in and maybe I got hacked?

The reason I'm thinking this is because when I try to use the mySQL command line to long-on to the DB, it rejects my password and then the shell—or whatever you want to call it—closes and I don't have access to anything.

So, now I can't log-in to either mySQL or phpMyAdmin.

My questions now are, what do I do to regain access to both mySQL and phpMyAdmin?

Do I want to get access back, or should I just remove them both and reinstall mySQL along with the workbench app?

Per the steps shown in the video I shared, am I putting myself in any risk by turning on the features shown? What does IIS7 do and what's it's purpose in using phpMyAdmin? Couldn't I have just used Apache or Nginx?

Running Windows 7 Ultimate
Did not create anything using phpMyAdmin/Only installed

------------------Edit----------------

I was able to log in again and use phpMyAdmin after I started mySQL manually. I had it set to that value(?) during installation as I wasn't sure if it was OK or not to set it to automatically afterwards. Please feel free to give more input and or answer my other questions.