Wondering where your .htaccess is gone in the wordpress root directory you recently installed ? Well, I was wondering too when I installed wordpress. I did’nt know about remote masks. Its very simple actually.You just need to set a remote mask value. If you are using WS_FTP software as your FTP tool, then this can be done by going to the Startup tab in the Connect dialog box. In the create site or Edit site box, you will find a menu item called ‘startup’, in startup, find Remote Mask and fill its field with -la and save the settings and you are done. Re-connect to the ftp and you will find your .htaccess file.

Some useful links:
http://www.efficienthosting.co.uk/support/wsftp.html
http://www.nexusportal.net/support/general-hosting/ftp/win/wsftple.html
http://www.nexusportal.net/support/general-hosting/ftp/win/wsftppro.html