thanks to everybody for trying to help me get this solved. i think that i am almost there.
I added index.php to the DirectoryIndex line in my httpd.conf file, now it opens index.php, but doesn't go through the php processing engine, it shows all my php code when you go to view source in the browser. any suggestions to fix this?
thanks again for all your help... i went back and edited the httpd.conf again after reading both of the articles, and i finally got it to work. i really do appreciate the help.
i deffinately feel like i have muddled through this one too