.htaccess & .htpasswd files don't protect my directories

[PlymWS]

I've just setup my new server. I have installed Debian Sarge 3.1, Apache2 and php5 on it and everything runs fine.

The only problem is that I want to protect a couple of directories on the website root (/var/www). I have tried creating .htaccess & .htpasswd files but if I goto one of the directories that I have "protected" I can still see the contents.

Is this a problem with php5 ? I have only just upgraded to 5 from php4 and have not had this problem before. All installations were done via apt-get from stable repositories.

Can someone point me in the right direction as I would like to get the password protection on my folders.

TIA

[engineuity]

did you restart apache?

[PlymWS]

Yes. I had to modify the <Directory> lines in apache2.conf slightly and I didn't realise that if you enter a username/password combination Internet Explorer remembers it until you log out of XP and log in again.