How to turn on Mod Rewrite in Apache - Help Needed

can somebody pls tell me how to turn on mod rewrite to work properly on localhost.
i have Apache 2.2.0

thanks

Inside the server configuration or virtual host container, enter the following line:

Code:

---

RewriteEngine on

---

i've done that but it doesn't seem to recognize it.
whenever i try doin something it says "Object Not Found"

after creating an .htaccess file with the below content

Code:

---

RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^test.cleanurl(\/.*)*$ /test.cleanurl.php
RewriteRule ^news(\/.*)*$ /news.php

---

and navigating to localhost/testdir/news/10/45 gives me an "Object Not Found" error

and i assume object not found also means "Page Not Found".
and of course i have the .htaccess saved in the testdir folder.

Heh, this is the same issue I am having.