The cgi-bin directory might be reserved by your host for system cgi scripts. Create a cgi-local directory and try running the scripts from there.
Also the line in cplinks.html for General Settings should not have been edited. Change it from
<A HREF="cpanel.cgi" target="CPMAIN">General Settings</A>
to
<A HREF="cpanel.cgi?action=variables" target="CPMAIN">General Settings</A>
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mjrand