OK, so, how about this.....
create a static page called "Login to Your Account"
here is the page content
Code:
{if $login}
<table width=500>
<tr><td>
<div class=HeadText> You are currently logged in as {$login}
<br><Br>
<a href="orders.php?mode=search">Click here to track or view your previous orders</a>
<br><br>
<a href="register.php?mode=update">Click here to view or modify your profile</a>
<br><br>
<a href="include/login.php?mode=logout&redirect=customer">Click here to Log Out</a>
</td></tr></table>
{else}
<table width=500><tr><td>Please login here using your username and password<br><br>
{ include file="auth.tpl" }
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
{/if}
make sure that in "General Settings" you have checked "Parse Smarty tags in the content of embedded static pages:"
you account login link is = "http://www.yoursite.com/pages.php?pageid=2"
or whatever number static page you are on
this seems to be a really easy solution to this problem, almost too easy.....but it works for me.
note - i haven't got my ssl cert installed yet, so not sure if that will cause any issues.
-mike