diff --git a/wp-admin/options-reading.php b/wp-admin/options-reading.php
index 84d61448f2..bb28b020f7 100644
--- a/wp-admin/options-reading.php
+++ b/wp-admin/options-reading.php
@@ -53,10 +53,7 @@ include('admin-header.php');
 <tr valign="top"> 
 <th width="33%" scope="row"><?php _e('Show at most:') ?></th> 
 <td>
-<input name="posts_per_page" type="text" id="posts_per_page" value="<?php form_option('posts_per_page'); ?>" size="3" /> 
-<select name="what_to_show" id="what_to_show" > 
-<option value="days" <?php selected('days', get_option('what_to_show')); ?>><?php _e('days') ?></option> 
-<option value="posts" <?php selected('posts', get_option('what_to_show')); ?>><?php _e('posts') ?></option> 
+<input name="posts_per_page" type="text" id="posts_per_page" value="<?php form_option('posts_per_page'); ?>" size="3" /> <?php _e('posts') ?>
 </select>
 </td> 
 </tr> 
@@ -93,7 +90,7 @@ include('admin-header.php');
 </p>
 <p class="submit">
 <input type="hidden" name="action" value="update" /> 
-<input type="hidden" name="page_options" value="posts_per_page,what_to_show,posts_per_rss,rss_use_excerpt,blog_charset,gzipcompression,show_on_front,page_on_front,page_for_posts" /> 
+<input type="hidden" name="page_options" value="posts_per_page,posts_per_rss,rss_use_excerpt,blog_charset,gzipcompression,show_on_front,page_on_front,page_for_posts" /> 
 <input type="submit" name="Submit" value="<?php _e('Update Options &raquo;') ?>" /> 
 </p> 
 </form> 
diff --git a/wp-includes/link-template.php b/wp-includes/link-template.php
index e9ecb63ccd..4d0dddf3be 100644
--- a/wp-includes/link-template.php
+++ b/wp-includes/link-template.php
@@ -435,9 +435,9 @@ function next_posts($max_page = 0) { // original by cfactor at cooltux.org
 }
 
 function next_posts_link($label='Next Page &raquo;', $max_page=0) {
-	global $paged, $wpdb;
+	global $paged, $wpdb, $wp_query;
 	if ( !$max_page ) {
-		$max_page = _max_num_pages();
+		$max_page = $wp_query->max_num_pages;
 	}
 	if ( !$paged )
 		$paged = 1;
@@ -471,32 +471,10 @@ function previous_posts_link($label='&laquo; Previous Page') {
 	}
 }
 
-function _max_num_pages() {
-	global $max_num_pages;
-	global $wpdb, $wp_query;
-	
-	if (isset($max_num_pages)) return $max_num_pages;
-	$posts_per = get_query_var('posts_per_page');
-	if ( empty($posts_per) ) $posts_per = 1;
-
-	if ( 'posts' == get_query_var('what_to_show') ) {
-		preg_match('#FROM\s(.*)\sORDER BY#siU', $wp_query->request, $matches);
-		$fromwhere = $matches[1];
-		$numposts = $wpdb->get_var("SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT $wpdb->posts.ID) FROM $fromwhere");
-		$max_num_pages = ceil($numposts / $posts_per);
-	} else {
-		preg_match('#FROM\s(.*)\sORDER BY#siU', $wp_query->request, $matches);
-		$fromwhere = preg_replace('/( AND )?post_date >= (\'|\")(.*?)(\'|\")( AND post_date <= (\'\")(.*?)(\'\"))?/siU', '', $matches[1]);
-		$num_days = $wpdb->query("SELECT DISTINCT post_date FROM $fromwhere GROUP BY year(post_date), month(post_date), dayofmonth(post_date)");
-		$max_num_pages = ceil($num_days / $posts_per);
-	}
-
-	return $max_num_pages;
-}
-
 function posts_nav_link($sep=' &#8212; ', $prelabel='&laquo; Previous Page', $nxtlabel='Next Page &raquo;') {
-	if ( !is_single() ) {
-		$max_num_pages = _max_num_pages();
+	global $wp_query;
+	if ( !is_singular() ) {
+		$max_num_pages = $wp_query->max_num_pages;
 		$paged = get_query_var('paged');
 		
 		//only have sep if there's both prev and next results
diff --git a/wp-includes/query.php b/wp-includes/query.php
index 9de68a2927..e8dd9d6f0d 100644
--- a/wp-includes/query.php
+++ b/wp-includes/query.php
@@ -265,6 +265,9 @@ class WP_Query {
 	var $in_the_loop = false;
 	var $post;
 
+	var $found_posts = 0;
+	var $max_num_pages = 0;
+
 	var $is_single = false;
 	var $is_preview = false;
 	var $is_page = false;
@@ -590,8 +593,6 @@ class WP_Query {
 		$post_type = $q['post_type'];
 		if ( !isset($q['posts_per_page']) || $q['posts_per_page'] == 0 )
 			$q['posts_per_page'] = get_option('posts_per_page');
-		if ( !isset($q['what_to_show']) )
-			$q['what_to_show'] = get_option('what_to_show');
 		if ( isset($q['showposts']) && $q['showposts'] ) {
 			$q['showposts'] = (int) $q['showposts'];
 			$q['posts_per_page'] = $q['showposts'];
@@ -607,7 +608,6 @@ class WP_Query {
 		}
 		if ( $this->is_feed ) {
 			$q['posts_per_page'] = get_option('posts_per_rss');
-			$q['what_to_show'] = 'posts';
 		}
 		$q['posts_per_page'] = (int) $q['posts_per_page'];
 		if ( $q['posts_per_page'] < -1 )
@@ -941,33 +941,20 @@ class WP_Query {
 		$join = apply_filters('posts_join', $join);
 
 		// Paging
-		if (empty($q['nopaging']) && ! $this->is_single && ! $this->is_page) {
+		if (empty($q['nopaging']) && !$this->is_singular) {
 			$page = abs(intval($q['paged']));
 			if (empty($page)) {
 				$page = 1;
 			}
 
-			if (($q['what_to_show'] == 'posts')) {
-				if ( empty($q['offset']) ) {
-					$pgstrt = '';
-					$pgstrt = (intval($page) -1) * $q['posts_per_page'] . ', ';
-					$limits = 'LIMIT '.$pgstrt.$q['posts_per_page'];
-				} else { // we're ignoring $page and using 'offset'
-					$q['offset'] = abs(intval($q['offset']));
-					$pgstrt = $q['offset'] . ', ';
-					$limits = 'LIMIT ' . $pgstrt . $q['posts_per_page'];
-				}
-			} elseif ($q['what_to_show'] == 'days') {
-				$startrow = $q['posts_per_page'] * (intval($page)-1);
-				$start_date = $wpdb->get_var("SELECT max(post_date) FROM $wpdb->posts $join WHERE (1=1) $where GROUP BY year(post_date), month(post_date), dayofmonth(post_date) ORDER BY post_date DESC LIMIT $startrow,1");
-				$endrow = $startrow + $q['posts_per_page'] - 1;
-				$end_date = $wpdb->get_var("SELECT min(post_date) FROM $wpdb->posts $join WHERE (1=1) $where GROUP BY year(post_date), month(post_date), dayofmonth(post_date) ORDER BY post_date DESC LIMIT $endrow,1");
-
-				if ($page > 1) {
-					$where .= " AND post_date >= '$end_date' AND post_date <= '$start_date'";
-				} else {
-					$where .= " AND post_date >= '$end_date'";
-				}
+			if ( empty($q['offset']) ) {
+				$pgstrt = '';
+				$pgstrt = (intval($page) -1) * $q['posts_per_page'] . ', ';
+				$limits = 'LIMIT '.$pgstrt.$q['posts_per_page'];
+			} else { // we're ignoring $page and using 'offset'
+				$q['offset'] = abs(intval($q['offset']));
+				$pgstrt = $q['offset'] . ', ';
+				$limits = 'LIMIT ' . $pgstrt . $q['posts_per_page'];
 			}
 		}
 
@@ -989,9 +976,8 @@ class WP_Query {
 
 		$this->posts = $wpdb->get_results($this->request);
 		if ( !empty($limits) ) {
-			$num_rows = $wpdb->get_var('SELECT FOUND_ROWS()');
-			global $max_num_pages;
-			$max_num_pages = $num_rows / $q['posts_per_page'];
+			$this->found_posts = $wpdb->get_var('SELECT FOUND_ROWS()');
+			$this->max_num_pages = $this->found_posts / $q['posts_per_page'];
 		}
 		// Check post status to determine if post should be displayed.
 		if ( !empty($this->posts) && ($this->is_single || $this->is_page) ) {