WampServer

PHP code doesn't work if I don't put <?php before I start a code block and that is really unefficient and looks clumsy. Is there any way to remove this so I can use normal code blocks like this:

<?
echo "like this";
?>

The other problem I have is that I don't have the root password for the mysql db. When I try to log in as root in the console or phpmyadmin it says wrong password. I have tried blank and "root".

The <?php problem thingy can be changed using some file (i can't remeber which) in wherever you installed wamp. Here, there is an option to allow you to use <?

Using <? instead of <?php makes your code non-standard and it will NOT work on many severs.

The flag is in php.ini:
short_open_tag = off / on