Are all the listed permissions for files and folders still recommended. Somewhere I had seen a report that the htaccess file no longer has to be 404 do to improvements in Apache or PHP. Just wanted your input.
The only reason to lock an .htaccess would be to prevent something from writing to it automatically, but it is very simple to unlock, write and then lock again. BPS does that itself and other plugins do that. From a security standpoint locking the root htaccess file no longer offers any benefits or adds additional security. And changing folder and file permissions is also a thing of the past.