Plugin: All in One WP Security problems

Hello All – I have been using the “All in One WP Security” plugin for some time. Upgraded to WordPress 3.9 – and then the latest version of “All in One WP Security”, and it is now sending me e-mails of people trying to hack into the admin part of my site – which is good. They will never succeed as my admin account has been renamed. But – here is my problem. When the hackers try and fail 3 times – it is locking down the whole admin site. I cannot get into it from the local network, or on the local server. It says that the IP’s are locked out. I tried to whitelist these networks in the plugin – and they are listed – but when I save it says that it cannt save the .htaccess file – and for me to edit it manually. Well – I go look at the file – and I have no idea what to put in it. The plug in also does not know my IP address – whether I access it from the local network (192.168) or on the server (127.0). One last thing – in this plug in – it says that I can change the name of the admin site to something else. I am a little afraid to do so – in case it doesn’t work – then I might not be able to get in to the admin site again – is it safe? Don’t get me wrong – I love the plugin – the protection – the the flexability and security – I just need some guidance. Thanks!