diff --git a/index.php b/index.php
index bdff0d4f32b..9eddfd1f8d3 100644
--- a/index.php
+++ b/index.php
@@ -32,15 +32,7 @@
         }
     }
 
-    if (empty($USER->id)) {
-        if (empty($CFG->loginhttps)) {
-            $wwwroot = $CFG->wwwroot;
-        } else {
-            $wwwroot = str_replace('http', 'https', $CFG->wwwroot);
-        }
-        $loginstring = "<div class=\"logininfo\"><a href=\"$wwwroot/login/index.php\">".get_string('login').'</a></div>';
-    } else {
-        $loginstring = user_login_string($SITE);
+    if (!empty($USER->id)) {
         add_to_log(SITEID, 'course', 'view', 'view.php?id='.SITEID, SITEID);
     }
 
@@ -60,7 +52,7 @@
 
     print_header(strip_tags($SITE->fullname), $SITE->fullname, 'home', '',
                  '<meta name="description" content="'. s(strip_tags($SITE->summary)) .'" />',
-                 true, '', $loginstring.$langmenu);
+                 true, '', user_login_string($SITE).$langmenu);
 
 ?>
 
diff --git a/lib/datalib.php b/lib/datalib.php
index fb42be230d3..685224dbd22 100644
--- a/lib/datalib.php
+++ b/lib/datalib.php
@@ -1335,18 +1335,16 @@ function get_courses_notin_metacourse($metacourseid,$count=false) {
 
     global $CFG;
 
-    $site = get_site(); // we don't want the site course in here.
-
     if ($count) {
         $sql  = "SELECT COUNT(c.id)";
-    }
-    else {
+    } else {
         $sql = "SELECT c.id,c.shortname,c.fullname";
     }
 
     $alreadycourses = get_courses_in_metacourse($metacourseid);
     
-    $sql .= " FROM {$CFG->prefix}course c WHERE ".((!empty($alreadycourses)) ? "c.id NOT IN (".implode(',',array_keys($alreadycourses)).") AND " : "")." c.id !=$metacourseid and c.id != $site->id and c.metacourse != 1";
+    $sql .= " FROM {$CFG->prefix}course c WHERE ".((!empty($alreadycourses)) ? "c.id NOT IN (".implode(',',array_keys($alreadycourses)).")
+    AND " : "")." c.id !=$metacourseid and c.id != ".SITEID." and c.metacourse != 1";
 
     return get_records_sql($sql);
 }
@@ -1999,9 +1997,15 @@ function user_group($courseid, $userid) {
  * @return course  A {@link $COURSE} object for the site
  * @todo Finish documenting this function.
  */
-function get_site () {
+function get_site() {
 
-    if ( $course = get_record('course', 'category', 0)) {
+    global $SITE;
+
+    if (!empty($SITE->id)) {   // We already have a global to use, so return that
+        return $SITE;
+    }
+
+    if ($course = get_record('course', 'category', 0)) {
         return $course;
     } else {
         return false;
diff --git a/lib/weblib.php b/lib/weblib.php
index 3ea647e1920..728c041318a 100644
--- a/lib/weblib.php
+++ b/lib/weblib.php
@@ -1501,7 +1501,7 @@ function highlightfast($needle, $haystack) {
 function print_header ($title='', $heading='', $navigation='', $focus='', $meta='',
                        $cache=true, $button='&nbsp;', $menu='', $usexml=false, $bodytags='') {
 
-    global $USER, $CFG, $THEME, $SESSION, $ME;
+    global $USER, $CFG, $THEME, $SESSION, $ME, $SITE;
 
 /// This is an ugly hack to be replaced later by a proper global $COURSE
     global $course;
@@ -1543,7 +1543,7 @@ function print_header ($title='', $heading='', $navigation='', $focus='', $meta=
         if (isset($course->id)) {
             $menu = user_login_string($course);
         } else {
-            $menu = user_login_string(get_site());
+            $menu = user_login_string($SITE);
         }
     }
 
@@ -1908,15 +1908,18 @@ function theme_setup($theme = '', $params=NULL) {
  * @param course $course {@link $COURSE} object containing course information
  * @param user $user {@link $USER} object containing user information
  * @return string
- * @todo Finish documenting this function
  */
-function user_login_string($course, $user=NULL) {
-    global $USER, $CFG;
+function user_login_string($course=NULL, $user=NULL) {
+    global $USER, $CFG, $SITE;
 
     if (empty($user) and isset($USER->id)) {
         $user = $USER;
     }
 
+    if (empty($course)) {
+        $course = $SITE;
+    }
+
     if (isset($user->realuser)) {
         if ($realuser = get_record('user', 'id', $user->realuser)) {
             $fullname = fullname($realuser, true);