What are the recommended directory permissions?
That drupal page like so many is very long and confusing. But it contains this post by Jason, who hit the nail on the head:


  Posted by Jason Sale on November 1, 2010 at 12:40pm
  
  Thanks for writing this and everything, but all that I and 99% of people reading this page really want is a list of numbers next to a list of folders. 
  
  
  /default on 755 
  /default/files including all subfolders and files on 744 (or 755) 
  /default/themes including all subfolders and files on 755 
  /default/modules including all subfolders and files on 755
  /default/settings.php and /default/default.settings.php on 444