Supernotch893 here and Today I'll tell you newcomers how to make a server to play with friends on!

You Will Need:
1 PC, running Windows or Linux or 1 Mac (This tutorial covers Windows only)
The Server Software (Tutorial covers Bukkit/Spigot)
Minecraft
People to play with

The Tutorial Itself:
Step 1. Create a new folder. I blacked out the stuff to NOT click on. Just click on New, then click on Folder.

Then name the folder you created whatever you desire. Be as boring or creative as you want.

There should be nothing in here, except for the usual "No Contents" text

Step 2. Get Bukkit off of http://www.dl.bukkit.org

Then click the latest build (usually a beta build)

Or if you're a performance freak, try Spigot (a modded Bukkit): ci.md-5.net/job/Spigot

Don't be scared of the confusing link
Then click on the stuff labelled spigot-blablaablah.jar
Or spigot.jar
Here's what I used:

Step 3: Download it!
Click the thing you wanna download. It'll tell you if you want to save it, or to abort (or something similar, varies from browser to browser)

Hit Save/Download/Save As/Whatever
Drag the downloaded jarfile (or save it to) where your server folder is. Failiure in doing this is not good, and will keep a future file from working.

Step 4. The Startup Script. To Create the startup script, open up Notepad. This is done by opening the Start menu and searching for notepad. DO NOT CLICK ANYTHING THAT SHOWS UP EXCEPT FOR notepad.exe (Highlighted notepad in green)

Then copy the code in the spoiler line-for-line

Photo of what it should closely resemble:

Step 5. Running the Server. When you finish the script, go to File, Save As...
then save it as ***.bat with *** being the name. Be creative if you desire!
Then RUN THE SCRIPT, NOT THE JAR

Then you should see all of these files, some of which may need configuring.

Step 6. Port Foward! For outsiders to log on to your server, you need to portfoward. This varies from router to router, or modem to modem, so I can't go into detail on that.

AFTER:
After the hard work, you may or may not be satisfied with the results. One reason may be due to lag, which varies from machine to machine. Lack of players might be another reason why you may not be saitsfied. If you're not happy for any reason, delete it, add a no-lag plugin, or switch server software! You'll get hard disk space back! Happy Minecrafting!