permalinks, apache, yahoo & 2.5?

Hello everyone.

i’ve run several blogs through yahoo in the past, all of which had been hosted through yahoo, and all of which were using the default (ugly) permalinks structure. i have just begun to design a new blog (using wordpress 2.5), hosted with yahoo’s web server, and would like to enable the pretty permalinks structure into the blog’s posts. i am encountering several problems however.

1. this is on yahoo’s web hosting website.

The name .htaccess refers to the main configuration file for Apache, a popular open-source HTTP server. The .htaccess file can be used to create custom error pages and web page redirects, set up password protection, enable SSI, and more. Yahoo! does not currently allow you to upload .htaccess files to your account. For other customization options, we recommend the Custom Error Pages and password-protection features available in your Web Hosting Control Panel.

i’m assuming that that means that i’m unable to upload apache as a manipulation tool onto my ftp as long as i’m hosting said site & server through yahoo. i could be reading this wrong since i’ve never messed around with apache before.

2. i’ve experimented with re-editing the vars php file within my wordpress directory, but the line that i’m being instructed to alter is different from the coding quoted in the instruction page. i’m assuming this is a new variation the php specific to 2.5. here is the new line in 2.5.
$is_apache = ((strpos($_SERVER['SERVER_SOFTWARE'], 'Apache') !== false) || (strpos($_SERVER['SERVER_SOFTWARE'], 'LiteSpeed') !== false)) ? true : false;

3. once i was instructed to edit the lines above, i have also been instructed to delete my htaccess file. even when showing hidden files, i am unable to locate this in my wordpress directory.

any help would be appreciated on any of this seeing as how i’m good at what i do, but have never altered the permalinks before and have no idea how to compile, build, install, or configure apache.

obviously most blogs out there are using pretty permalinks so it be that unattainable.

i’m running wordpress 2.5 on yahoo’s web hosting, uploading with cyberduck on a mac os tiger.

ANYONE?