Hi everyone I having a problem.
I had my site verified by google about 2 weeks agao. got an email that I was to claim and verify again today. I did that and got an 403 error. I contacted google and they told me to contact my host. I did (hostgator) and was told that there was a block or permission denied in the htaccess.

I did check the htaccess and did see alot compare to the last time I checked. As I remember I think I only had 2 lines now there is alot. Now I am worried. The person at my hosting told me to rename the htacces and retry and I got it to verify. He then said to change back the bame to the old name. Now why I am asking is this bad?

I was also trying to get my google feeder domian_products.xml and got and 403 error and saying that I dont have the permission. Does the htaccess have any connection to the denial?

Hope someone can help me

Does the htaccess have any connection to the denial?
How about pasting the contents here as we can not read your mind nor theorize on something you keep a secret

This is used with Apache WebServers

The following blocks direct HTTP requests to all filetypes in this directory recursively, except certain approved exceptions

It also prevents the ability of any scripts to run. No type of script, be it PHP, PERL or whatever, can normally be executed if ExecCGI is disabled.

Will also prevent people from seeing what is in the dir. and any sub-directories

For this to work, you must include either 'All' or at least: 'Limit' and 'Indexes' parameters to the AllowOverride configuration in your apache/conf/httpd.conf file.

Additionally, if you want the added protection offered by the OPTIONS directive below, you'll need to add 'Options' to the AllowOverride list, if 'All' is not specified.

Example:

#<Directory "/usr/local/apache/htdocs">

AllowOverride Limit Options Indexes

#</Directory>
###############################
DirectoryIndex index.php

deny everything

<FilesMatch "...">
Order Allow,Deny
Deny from all
</FilesMatch>

but now allow just certain necessary files:

<FilesMatch "(^$|^favicon.ico$|.*.(php|js|css|jpg|gif|png)$)">
Order Allow,Deny
Allow from all
</FilesMatch>
IndexIgnore /

The following makes adjustments to the SSL protocol for Internet Explorer browsers

Well the host said that the htaccess had to do with the denial of not being able to get verified. so I had to change the htaccess name and get it verified and then change it back.

If it is only .xml files throwing the error try adding that to the files match string

<FilesMatch "(^$|^favicon.ico$|.*\.(php|js|css|jpg|gif|png|xml)$)">

THANKS that helped. as for the rest of the file does everything look ok?

You might have other issues with other file types not included