I've protected a directory with cPanel and the user/pwd combo does not work in the browser (I'm using the correct combination)

I'm using the latest version of IE - I mention that b/c the "Authorization Required" page says that the browser may not be capable of sending the information

Any thoughts?

is there a more appropriate area for this question?

I think you mean .htpasswd, and yes this should be moved to Technical Support.
Did you use the cPanel interface to setup the Protected Directory?

Maybe this will help!?

http://www.javascriptkit.com/howto/htaccess3.shtml

cPanel already implements this into what it calls Protected Directories.
So it may be an issue with cpanel, would you mind setting up another directory (can be empty just to test) and pm'ing me a username and password to test it?