diff --git a/include/api.php b/include/api.php
index b93f8cf72a..af7c2ca523 100644
--- a/include/api.php
+++ b/include/api.php
@@ -565,9 +565,7 @@
 
 			//AND `allow_cid`='' AND `allow_gid`='' AND `deny_cid`='' AND `deny_gid`=''",
 			// count public wall messages
-			$r = q("SELECT count(*) as `count` FROM `item`
-					WHERE  `uid` = %d
-					AND `type`='wall'",
+			$r = q("SELECT COUNT(*) as `count` FROM `item` WHERE `uid` = %d AND wall",
 					intval($uinfo[0]['uid'])
 			);
 			$countitms = $r[0]['count'];
diff --git a/include/dbstructure.php b/include/dbstructure.php
index f3c8947408..b28e072f9e 100644
--- a/include/dbstructure.php
+++ b/include/dbstructure.php
@@ -1121,6 +1121,7 @@ function db_definition($charset) {
 			"indexes" => array(
 					"PRIMARY" => array("id"),
 					"uid_contactid" => array("uid", "contact-id"),
+					"uid_profile" => array("uid", "profile"),
 					"uid_album_created" => array("uid", "album", "created"),
 					"resource-id" => array("resource-id"),
 					"guid" => array("guid"),
@@ -1356,6 +1357,7 @@ function db_definition($charset) {
 					"type_term" => array("type","term"),
 					"uid_otype_type_term_global_created" => array("uid","otype","type","term","global","created"),
 					"otype_type_term_tid" => array("otype","type","term","tid"),
+					"uid_otype_type_url" => array("uid","otype","type","url"),
 					"guid" => array("guid"),
 					)
 			);
diff --git a/include/dfrn.php b/include/dfrn.php
index 3b06932d8a..061991c4ca 100644
--- a/include/dfrn.php
+++ b/include/dfrn.php
@@ -193,13 +193,13 @@ class dfrn {
 		//	AND ( `item`.`edited` > '%s' OR `item`.`changed` > '%s' )
 		//	dbesc($check_date),
 
-		$r = q("SELECT STRAIGHT_JOIN `item`.*, `item`.`id` AS `item_id`,
+		$r = q("SELECT `item`.*, `item`.`id` AS `item_id`,
 			`contact`.`name`, `contact`.`network`, `contact`.`photo`, `contact`.`url`,
 			`contact`.`name-date`, `contact`.`uri-date`, `contact`.`avatar-date`,
 			`contact`.`thumb`, `contact`.`dfrn-id`, `contact`.`self`,
 			`sign`.`signed_text`, `sign`.`signature`, `sign`.`signer`
 			FROM `item` $sql_post_table
-			INNER JOIN `contact` ON `contact`.`id` = `item`.`contact-id`
+			STRAIGHT_JOIN `contact` ON `contact`.`id` = `item`.`contact-id`
 			AND `contact`.`blocked` = 0 AND `contact`.`pending` = 0
 			LEFT JOIN `sign` ON `sign`.`iid` = `item`.`id`
 			WHERE `item`.`uid` = %d AND `item`.`visible` = 1 and `item`.`moderated` = 0 AND `item`.`parent` != 0
diff --git a/include/items.php b/include/items.php
index 0741e1b3d4..b969a75d6d 100644
--- a/include/items.php
+++ b/include/items.php
@@ -779,6 +779,9 @@ function item_store($arr,$force_parent = false, $notify = false, $dontcache = fa
 
 	logger('item_store: ' . print_r($arr,true), LOGGER_DATA);
 
+	q("COMMIT;");
+	q("START TRANSACTION;");
+
 	$r = dbq("INSERT INTO `item` (`"
 			. implode("`, `", array_keys($arr))
 			. "`) VALUES ('"
@@ -804,6 +807,7 @@ function item_store($arr,$force_parent = false, $notify = false, $dontcache = fa
 			dbesc($arr['network']),
 			intval($r[0]["id"])
 		);
+		q("COMMIT");
 		return 0;
 	} elseif(count($r)) {
 
@@ -813,6 +817,7 @@ function item_store($arr,$force_parent = false, $notify = false, $dontcache = fa
 		item_set_last_item($arr);
 	} else {
 		logger('item_store: could not locate created item');
+		q("COMMIT");
 		return 0;
 	}
 
@@ -891,10 +896,12 @@ function item_store($arr,$force_parent = false, $notify = false, $dontcache = fa
 	create_tags_from_item($current_post);
 	create_files_from_item($current_post);
 
+	q("COMMIT");
+
 	// Only check for notifications on start posts
-	if ($arr['parent-uri'] === $arr['uri'])
+	if ($arr['parent-uri'] === $arr['uri']) {
 		add_thread($current_post);
-	else {
+	} else {
 		update_thread($parent_id);
 		add_shadow_entry($arr);
 	}
diff --git a/include/onepoll.php b/include/onepoll.php
index e779372720..951b87043e 100644
--- a/include/onepoll.php
+++ b/include/onepoll.php
@@ -443,7 +443,7 @@ function onepoll_run(&$argv, &$argc){
 									$refs_arr[$x] = "'" . msgid2iri(str_replace(array('<','>',' '),array('','',''),dbesc($refs_arr[$x]))) . "'";
 							}
 							$qstr = implode(',',$refs_arr);
-							$r = q("SELECT `uri` , `parent-uri` FROM `item` WHERE `uri` IN ( $qstr ) AND `uid` = %d LIMIT 1",
+							$r = q("SELECT `uri` , `parent-uri` FROM `item` USE INDEX (`uid_uri`) WHERE `uri` IN ($qstr) AND `uid` = %d LIMIT 1",
 								intval($importer_uid)
 							);
 							if(count($r))
diff --git a/include/ostatus.php b/include/ostatus.php
index ec53141dc7..556c81e987 100644
--- a/include/ostatus.php
+++ b/include/ostatus.php
@@ -806,11 +806,19 @@ class ostatus {
 		}
 
 		// Get the parent
+		$parents = q("SELECT `item`.`id`, `item`.`parent`, `item`.`uri`, `item`.`contact-id`, `item`.`type`,
+				`item`.`verb`, `item`.`visible` FROM `term`
+				STRAIGHT_JOIN `item` AS `thritem` ON `thritem`.`parent` = `term`.`oid`
+				STRAIGHT_JOIN `item` ON `item`.`parent` = `thritem`.`parent`
+				WHERE `term`.`uid` = %d AND `term`.`otype` = %d AND `term`.`type` = %d AND `term`.`url` = '%s'))",
+				intval($uid), intval(TERM_OBJ_POST), intval(TERM_CONVERSATION), dbesc($conversation_url));
+
+/*
 		$parents = q("SELECT `id`, `parent`, `uri`, `contact-id`, `type`, `verb`, `visible` FROM `item` WHERE `id` IN
 				(SELECT `parent` FROM `item` WHERE `id` IN
 					(SELECT `oid` FROM `term` WHERE `uid` = %d AND `otype` = %d AND `type` = %d AND `url` = '%s'))",
 				intval($uid), intval(TERM_OBJ_POST), intval(TERM_CONVERSATION), dbesc($conversation_url));
-
+*/
 		if ($parents)
 			$parent = $parents[0];
 		elseif (count($item) > 0) {
@@ -1961,9 +1969,21 @@ class ostatus {
 			$last_update = 'now -30 days';
 
 		$check_date = datetime_convert('UTC','UTC',$last_update,'Y-m-d H:i:s');
+		$authorid = get_contact($owner["url"], 0);
 
-		$items = q("SELECT STRAIGHT_JOIN `item`.*, `item`.`id` AS `item_id` FROM `item`
-				INNER JOIN `thread` ON `thread`.`iid` = `item`.`parent`
+		$items = q("SELECT `item`.*, `item`.`id` AS `item_id` FROM `item` USE INDEX (`uid_contactid_created`)
+				STRAIGHT_JOIN `thread` ON `thread`.`iid` = `item`.`parent`
+				WHERE `item`.`uid` = %d AND `item`.`contact-id` = %d AND
+					`item`.`author-id` = %d AND `item`.`created` > '%s' AND
+					NOT `item`.`deleted` AND NOT `item`.`private` AND
+					`thread`.`network` IN ('%s', '%s')
+				ORDER BY `item`.`created` DESC LIMIT 300",
+				intval($owner["uid"]), intval($owner["id"]),
+				intval($authorid), dbesc($check_date),
+				dbesc(NETWORK_OSTATUS), dbesc(NETWORK_DFRN));
+/*
+		$items = q("SELECT `item`.*, `item`.`id` AS `item_id` FROM `item`
+				STRAIGHT_JOIN `thread` ON `thread`.`iid` = `item`.`parent`
 				LEFT JOIN `item` AS `thritem` ON `thritem`.`uri`=`item`.`thr-parent` AND `thritem`.`uid`=`item`.`uid`
 				WHERE `item`.`uid` = %d AND `item`.`received` > '%s' AND NOT `item`.`private` AND NOT `item`.`deleted`
 					AND `item`.`allow_cid` = '' AND `item`.`allow_gid` = '' AND `item`.`deny_cid`  = '' AND `item`.`deny_gid`  = ''
@@ -1981,7 +2001,7 @@ class ostatus {
 				dbesc($owner["nurl"]), dbesc(str_replace("http://", "https://", $owner["nurl"])),
 				dbesc($owner["nurl"]), dbesc(str_replace("http://", "https://", $owner["nurl"]))
 			);
-
+*/
 		$doc = new DOMDocument('1.0', 'utf-8');
 		$doc->formatOutput = true;
 
diff --git a/mod/display.php b/mod/display.php
index 0e0e7b3031..dcb9eb0941 100644
--- a/mod/display.php
+++ b/mod/display.php
@@ -27,9 +27,9 @@ function display_init(&$a) {
 
 		// Or is it anywhere on the server?
 		if ($nick == "") {
-			$r = qu("SELECT STRAIGHT_JOIN `user`.`nickname`, `item`.`id`, `item`.`parent`, `item`.`author-name`,
+			$r = qu("SELECT `user`.`nickname`, `item`.`id`, `item`.`parent`, `item`.`author-name`,
 				`item`.`author-link`, `item`.`author-avatar`, `item`.`network`, `item`.`uid`, `item`.`owner-link`, `item`.`body`
-				FROM `item` INNER JOIN `user` ON `user`.`uid` = `item`.`uid`
+				FROM `item` STRAIGHT_JOIN `user` ON `user`.`uid` = `item`.`uid`
 				WHERE `item`.`visible` AND NOT `item`.`deleted` AND NOT `item`.`moderated`
 					AND `item`.`allow_cid` = ''  AND `item`.`allow_gid` = ''
 					AND `item`.`deny_cid`  = '' AND `item`.`deny_gid`  = ''
@@ -236,7 +236,7 @@ function display_content(&$a, $update = 0) {
 			}
 
 			if ($nick == "") {
-				$r = qu("SELECT STRAIGHT_JOIN `user`.`nickname`, `item`.`id` FROM `item` INNER JOIN `user` ON `user`.`uid` = `item`.`uid`
+				$r = qu("SELECT `user`.`nickname`, `item`.`id` FROM `item` STRAIGHT_JOIN `user` ON `user`.`uid` = `item`.`uid`
 					WHERE `item`.`visible` AND NOT `item`.`deleted` AND NOT `item`.`moderated`
 						AND `item`.`allow_cid` = ''  AND `item`.`allow_gid` = ''
 						AND `item`.`deny_cid`  = '' AND `item`.`deny_gid`  = ''
diff --git a/mod/item.php b/mod/item.php
index adc46f1208..94ff6b93d4 100644
--- a/mod/item.php
+++ b/mod/item.php
@@ -788,6 +788,9 @@ function item_post(&$a) {
 	} else
 		$post_id = 0;
 
+	q("COMMIT;");
+	q("START TRANSACTION;");
+
 	$r = q("INSERT INTO `item` (`guid`, `extid`, `uid`,`type`,`wall`,`gravity`, `network`, `contact-id`,
 					`owner-name`,`owner-link`,`owner-avatar`, `owner-id`,
 					`author-name`, `author-link`, `author-avatar`, `author-id`,
@@ -864,6 +867,7 @@ function item_post(&$a) {
 	$r = q("SELECT `id` FROM `item` WHERE `uri` = '%s' LIMIT 1",
 		dbesc($datarray['uri']));
 	if(!count($r)) {
+		q("COMMIT");
 		logger('mod_item: unable to retrieve post that was just stored.');
 		notice( t('System error. Post not saved.') . EOL);
 		goaway($a->get_baseurl() . "/" . $return_path );
@@ -986,6 +990,8 @@ function item_post(&$a) {
 	create_tags_from_item($post_id);
 	create_files_from_item($post_id);
 
+	q("COMMIT");
+
 	if ($post_id == $parent)
 		add_thread($post_id);
 	else {
diff --git a/mod/photos.php b/mod/photos.php
index 741181b2e9..ced9523e28 100644
--- a/mod/photos.php
+++ b/mod/photos.php
@@ -53,8 +53,8 @@ function photos_init(&$a) {
 
 		$sql_extra = permissions_sql($a->data['user']['uid']);
 
-		$albums = q("SELECT count(distinct `resource-id`) AS `total`, `album` FROM `photo` WHERE `uid` = %d  AND `album` != '%s' AND `album` != '%s'
-			$sql_extra group by album order by created desc",
+		$albums = q("SELECT count(distinct `resource-id`) AS `total`, `album` FROM `photo` USE INDEX (`uid_album_created`) WHERE `uid` = %d  AND `album` != '%s' AND `album` != '%s'
+			$sql_extra GROUP BY `album` ORDER BY `created` DESC",
 			intval($a->data['user']['uid']),
 			dbesc('Contact Photos'),
 			dbesc( t('Contact Photos'))