Permalinks and 404 Errors

Where do I begin?

On Friday, in an attempt to enhance my SEO, I STUPIDLY changed my permalink setting from “default” to “month/day”

Then, suddenly, all of my Linkwithin links/Networked blog links etc are throwing 404 errors. I tried to change it back. No luck.

I tried turning off all plugins. No luck.

I had my host company do a 24 hour restore. No luck.

The host company tried to help, but claim it’s a wordpress/htaccess problem and they don’t support that.

I’ve tried to play with my htaccess file, but really don’t know what I’m doing. Or where it should be. Or what it should have in it.

If I have the permalink setting set to default, I get a white screen/black text 404 error. If I have the permalink setting set to month/day, I get my “personalized” 404 page (for an example, click here: https://www.rubberchickenmadness.com/2011/02/groundhog-day-lindsay-lohan.html)

I have been through the forums over and over. If I really knew what I was doing, I might be able to make more sense of it.

At this point, I’m scared of making things WORSE by doing things wrong.

Can anyone help me, in plain English?

I really would be eternally grateful. I’ve put a lot of work into my blog and want to keep it going.