in your xampp directory (i.e. c:\xampp) go to apache > bin and then locate php.ini .. under the windows environment this usually looks like a wordpad icon with a config cog on it filenamed "php" (it shudnt be to hard to locate it).
open php.ini either in notepad or your fav code editor and locate the lines
Code:
; Magic quotes
;
; Magic quotes for incoming GET/POST/Cookie data.
magic_quotes_gpc = Off
; Magic quotes for runtime-generated data, e.g. data from SQL, from exec(), etc.
magic_quotes_runtime = Off
; Use Sybase-style magic quotes (escape ' with '' instead of \').
magic_quotes_sybase = Off
just make sure there all off (sybase doesnt really matter but GPC must be off and i generally find its better to turn runtime off too and any security issues you find in thefuture can be plugged with proper code rather than this php function which will be removed in future versions anyway)