rewrite rules in httpd.conf rather than .htaccess

[eluser]Craig A Rodway[/eluser]
Yes, apparently it is faster; which makes sense if Apache doesn't have to A) check for a .htaccess file in the directory and B) parse it. But from discussions, and as Crafter says, the small performance increase is negligible.

Although I would still recommend if you have a large-ish htaccess file, many rules and is not changed often - stick it in your main Apache conf file and turn AllowOverride to 'None'.