images not showing, and security problem

problem 1: I am attempting to add new products to the zc but when i type in the path to the image on the server then click on preview i do not see the image at all, if i right-click the placeholder it shows the correct filename and path. i have refreshed a billion times, cleared temp files, etc, nothing seems to work.

problem 2: in the faq it tells me to log in to the admin via secure connection, which i can do successfully, however at some point while i am working in there it somehow switches me over to the unsecure mode, ex in the beginning i type the url to the secure server https://secure.netsolhost.com/rda-enterprises.com/catalog/admin/blahblahblahetcetc and it brings me to the login page but when i type in password etc, it brings me into the admin area and the url is still secure, but once i click anything, such as catalog --> catagories/products or whatever it then brings me to a non-secure url: http://www.rda-enterprises.com/catalog/admin/blahblahblahetcetc:wacko:

i have tried setting the permissions to every file from catalog to the images themselves as 777 and still same problem