I have Apache running on a public-facing Debian server, and am a bit worried about the security of the installation. This is a machine that hosts several free-time hobby project
You could always set it up inside a virtual machine and keep an image of it, so you can re-roll it if need be. That way the server is abstracted from your actual computer, and any virus' or so forth are contained inside the virtual machine. As I said before, if you keep an image as a backup you can restore to your previous state quite easy.