Currently the way the Joomla appliance is configured does not generate 404 errors if a wrong url is entered. 

This is problematic if you are replacing a site and Google has indexed many of the old url's  (google will drop the old url if it returns 404). 

Can someone please advise what changes to my .htaccess file would need to be done to correct this (or other changes)?  

this is seriously hurting my google SEO

thanks

##
# @version $Id: htaccess.txt 20196 2011-01-09 02:40:25Z ian $
# @package Joomla
# @copyright Copyright (C) 2005 - 2011 Open Source Matters. All rights reserved.
# @license GNU General Public License version 2 or later; see LICENSE.txt
##
 
##
# READ THIS COMPLETELY IF YOU CHOOSE TO USE THIS FILE!
#
# The line just below this section: 'Options +FollowSymLinks' may cause problems
# with some server configurations.  It is required for use of mod_rewrite, but may already
# be set by your server administrator in a way that dissallows changing it in
# your .htaccess file.  If using it causes your server to error out, comment it out (add # to
# beginning of line), reload your site in your browser and test your sef url's.  If they work,
# it has been set by your server administrator and you do not need it set here.
##
 
## Can be commented out if causes errors, see notes above.
Options +FollowSymLinks
 
## Mod_rewrite in use.
 
RewriteEngine On
 
## Begin - Rewrite rules to block out some common exploits.
# If you experience problems on your site block out the operations listed below
# This attempts to block the most common type of exploit `attempts` to Joomla!
#
# Block out any script trying to base64_encode data within the URL.
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} base64_encode.*\(.*\) [OR]
# Block out any script that includes a <script> tag in URL.
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (\<|%3C).*script.*(\>|%3E) [NC,OR]
# Block out any script trying to set a PHP GLOBALS variable via URL.
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} GLOBALS(=|\[|\%[0-9A-Z]{0,2}) [OR]
# Block out any script trying to modify a _REQUEST variable via URL.
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} _REQUEST(=|\[|\%[0-9A-Z]{0,2})
# Send all blocked request to homepage with 403 Forbidden error!
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php [F,L]
#
## End - Rewrite rules to block out some common exploits.
 
##
# Uncomment following line if your webserver's URL
# is not directly related to physical file paths.
# Update Your Joomla! Directory (just / for root).
##
 
RewriteBase /
 
## Begin - Joomla! core SEF Section.
#
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/index.php
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} (/component/) [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} (/|\.php|\.html|\.htm|\.feed|\.pdf|\.raw|/[^.]*)$  [NC]
RewriteRule (.*) index.php
RewriteRule .* - [E=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%{HTTP:Authorization},L]
#
## End - Joomla! core SEF Section.
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