i have a protected folder that is allowing anonymous access to it's content that is using the htpasswd method.
Extremely unusual for an htpasswd protected folder to allow access to anon users. What are the RWX attributes for the folder? Do you have htpasswd checked in the PLUGINS section of CP config and settings? Did you set it to 777 to enable it in setting up protection AND then reset back to 755 after you had done so? Do a rebuild from the CP