[drupal-support] setting: drupal overeager to intercept URLs? >> inaccessible files

after installing drupal, directories and files underneath where it exists are now inaccessible. i get redirected to a drupal provided "page not found" page even tho the URLs are there for sure. is there a setting somewhere to change this behavior? it seems drupal is intercepting all calls, and only showing pages that exist in its hierarchy of nodes etc. /dc