For now I just need the server to let me download files from one specific folder (in my case I chose /opt/myFolder for that task)

Distribution is Debian 6.0

*edit_start*

Apache version is 2.4, according to their official documentation, the Order/Allow clauses are deprecated and should not be used anymore

I'm an idiot: Apache version is 2.2.

*edit_end* My directory directives in apache2.conf look like this:

<IfModule dir_module>
                DirectoryIndex index.html index.htm index.php
</IfModule>
ServerRoot "/etc/apache2"
DocumentRoot "/opt/myFolder"
<Directory />
        Options FollowSymLinks
        AuthType None
        AllowOverride None
        Require all denie
</Directory>
<Directory "/opt/myFolder/*">
        Options FollowSymLinks MultiViews
        AllowOverride None
        AuthType None
        Require all allow
</Directory>

configuration error:  couldn't check user.  Check your authn provider!: /aTestFile.zip

Why would I need an authn provider if I don't want any authentication? Also I hope someone can explain to me what kind of AuthenticationProvider I'd need for that. Everytime I search for those things I get pointed at people asking how to protect files/directories with passwords or restrict access to some IP addresses, which doesn't really help me.

ok, since I've Apache version 2.2, here is the error I get when using the Order/Deny/Allow commands instead of AuthType/Require:

Invalid command 'Order', perhaps misspelled or defined by a module not included in the server configuration.