connection timing out

The site loses it’s connection to the host very quickly and if you are not constantly clicking around the site, you quite often get a “page not found” error when you go to update a page . This can be very frustrating as when you refresh the page, the changes can get lost and even worse the update can abort mid-stream and you end up wiping out a record which is infuriating.

I have never experienced this problem before to anything like this extent and I am not sure if there is a problem with the Zen Cart installation or if it is to do with the host Server timing out after only a few seconds

any ideas would be appreciated, i did have to change the .htaccess file to htaccess_OFF, don't know if this makes a difference.

You may have to work with your hosting company to figure out what's causing that.
You can also check your server's errorlog to determine what's triggering your page-not-found errors.
Or maybe it's caused by mod_security rules filtering out certain words you're trying to save as part of your content. Only your hosting company can change those rules.