Cannot limit posts on front page

I have a blog that will not allow me to limit the number of posts that shows on the home page.

I have tried three different themes:
Techozoic Fluid 1.8.3
LightWord 1.9.8
and
WordPress Default 1.6

I have even tried to edit the index.php of Techozoic

<div style="clear:both;width:100%;margin:-20px;"></div>
    <?php query_posts('showposts=4'); ?>
    <?php 	if (have_posts()) {
		while (have_posts()) {

The result is the same regardless. All 5 posts are displayed.

I have the reading settings in the admin section set to 3.

Tried “cbnet Different posts per page” plugin and it detects that the settings are set to 3.

Can anybody suggest a fix?