Can you use a Network Attached Storage Device as a web server for a website ? Such as this one. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822165075 I don't really want to build a server so I thought this would be close to the same thing, with alot of storage available.
You could build your own server, or use one of the NAS units that support TCP/IP (and whatever else your website needs)....but it is not worth it. It will cost you much less to use a hosting service like startlogic.com (about $6 per month including everything, unlimited storage, and just about every web API I can think of). Startlogic pays for itself in saved electricity.
It's a good idea to set up a mock up server at home using an old pc first .. before paying for a hosting.. so you get some idea of how things work and how to build pages etc. an old p2 with 256 ram will happily run a LAMP server and you can even put it online to test if you like.
No, there are lots of good freeware server applets around. Of course if it is just a test, you might consider Windows 2008 R2 RC2...it's free right now.
