It IS a local forum on my own server that I can directly access the whole hard drive on and I'm telling you... there's no php.ini in any system path or php program path.
My Security>Info:php says Configuration File (php.ini) Path C:WINDOWS
but it's not there.
Interesting huh?
Maybe that's why this board has been running like a dawg.
I think I'll start with the php.ini-recommended file and see what you guys say need's to be tweaked from there.