Miss_B -- Again, thank you so much for taking the time to offer help. But I'm afraid my knowledge and experience is just so far below what you're suggesting as to be embarrassing. Adlago, in his post above, really hit it on the head: I'm clueless. I have no idea what a phpmyadmin, a cron, a SSH/Tenet Client, or a PuTTy are. I have no idea what size our database is, or even where it is. I'm assuming a cPanel is the Invision Community dashboard where I manage the forum site content, but I can't see any of the terms you mentioned anywhere on there.
I've been looking at the link you sent in your original comment, however, and am finding it very helpful with a lot of great information. Clearly, I am so far out of my depth here, but I'm learning -- thanks in part to the link you provided -- and am determined to keep learning. Thanks so much for your time.
A.J.