Behavior of .htaccess files

[mjsulliv]

Hi. The server is running Apache. I can successfully use the .htaccess file to control access. But there is a curious behavioral difference between using require valid-user and require user userName. When using valid-user the browser keeps requesting credential entry -- some times a refresh is required but it does keep asking. When requiring a specific user and bad credentials (a user / password that is not in the password file) the prompt for credentials also keeps requesting. BUT when a valid set of credentials (a user / password that is in the password file) but not the one specified in the folders .htaccess file the requests for credentials stop and the browser must be closed and restarted in order to get the credentials dialog back.Is this normal operation or do I have a setting wrong?Any thoughts would be appreciated.