apache 2.0 fedora core 4 everything is forbiden

[Steven J Lamb]

I am a newbie user attempting to get my apache web up and running. basically 
I have the default comfig files and default permissions set up on my 
directories. However, I have attempted to add a new virtual host as well as 
comment out the welcome page. but when I do that all of my pages get a 403 
forbidden error. does anyone have any idea what I am forgetting

thanks for any help you can provide