Well, I think I have everything fixed. Apparently, it was a two-fold (+ a minor annoyance!) issue. 1. I wanted to integrate a verification system into the forum so I could prevent against spam in the future. This included the need to update the forum and portal software. 2. My web hoster (1and1), decided today would be a great day to test their reboot command on the server my site is being hosted on. After I called in about that issue, the slowness and restarts suddenly stopped. How coincidental. 3. The new template I am using for the portal software did not include certain images & code to make everything look like it should. I had to add a few lines into the template and manufacture some button images that looked right without actually having the font to do it with. You'd never know by looking at them! All should be working fine now...again, many apologies for the inconvenience! | 
