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What is ASPSecured?

ASPSecured is a security management add-on application for web pages developed in Classic ASP. The application was developed and offered by ASP-Programmers, a full-service application development company focused on developing ASP web pages and applications. ASPSecured is no longer available for purchase and ASP-Programmers is no longer advertising services online. Although it is no longer supported by the developer ASPSecured can still be found being used by older websites developed in Classic ASP.

ASPSecured is used to develop secure ASP pages and protect parts of web applications or web pages. It is touted as a simple to use comprehensive system for password protection, user management, and user authentication. ASPSecured is designed to be easy enough to use for beginning developers, yet robust and flexible enough to satisfy demanding applications developed by senior programmers.

Since the development of ASPSecured Classic ASP has been superseded by ASP.NET. While migration from Classic ASP to ASP.NET is recommended Microsoft has pledged to continue offering support for Classic ASP on Windows servers running the latest version of Internet Information Services (IIS) for the foreseeable future. ASP.NET offers improved integrated security features that are superior to ASP add-ons like ASPSecured. Since few new pages are developed in Classic ASP, and older pages are being transitioned to ASP.NET or other newer technologies there is now very little market for Classic ASP security add-ons such as ASPSecured.

What is ASPSecured used for?

ASPSecured is a robust and full-featured security solution used for many different purposes. Some of the most common purposes included:

• Password protection of specific portions of a website. Protection can be managed on the user level, or users can be assigned to groups and access managed at the group level.
• Simple and completely automated user registration. ASPSecured can even assign users to groups automatically based on user input, and set accounts to expire automatically based on a length of time or user inactivity. In this way ASPSecured can function as a completely automated user management application.
• Web page access privilege management at the user or group level allowing website administrators to control which parts of the website each user or group can access.
• Membership payment integration for paid-access websites with automatic expiration and deactivation of accounts upon non-payment of a renewal fee.
• Complete application development using ASPSecured as a comprehensive authentication and security solution saving hours of work.

What is unique about ASPSecured?

ASPSecured is unique in that it operates completely independently of the server security and permissions. It develops it own access database separate from the ASP engine.

ASPSecured also offers a robust set of realtime session controls. This allows website administrators to have a realtime view of user activity. Also, since each user login is tracked, full user tracking reports are available. This combination of session controls and user tracking provide a detailed view of user activity which can be very useful in the event that user misuse is suspected.

Another unique feature of ASPSecured is that integration of ASPSecured is very simple. Adding ASPSecured to a specific web page requires the addition of only four lines of code to the web page source code.

ASPSecured is also a time-saver for website administration. The completely automated nature of user management within ASPSecured, with automatic renewals and account expirations, removes a great deal of the user management workload. A robust system of automatic registration, payment integration, and account expiration and renewals mean website administrators can easily know the current status of any user, and ensure renewals and expirations are carried out in a standardized fashion.

One noteworthy oddity of ASPSecured is that it creates a subfolder on the domain called ASPSecured. The configuration of the subfolder means that it was regularly indexed by search engines. While not a major safety concern, it is a bit unusual for a search engine to index a subfolder that the website owners would probably prefer remain hidden, and some may find this tendency objectionable.

What did ASPSecured cost?

ASPSecured was last offered for purchase from ASP-Programmers in 2008. At that time a free trial version of the add-on was available, and the full version was available for only $5.99. The application source code could also be purchased for $19.99 allowing for complete customization and development of added-on features by experienced ASP developers.

What are some alternatives to ASPSecured?

Web pages written in Classic ASP operate on Windows servers which also support the ASP.NET framework. Windows .NET framework has built in security features such as the ASP.NET Membership Provider that outperform Classic ASP legacy add-ons like ASPSecured. In addition, newer membership management add-ons for ASP.NET such as MyWSAT (also known as ASP.NET WSAT) are available to simplify the process of implementing the ASP.NET Membership Provider.

How do I install ASPSecured?

At one time many hosting providers configured to support Classic ASP offered built-in activation of the free trial version of ASPSecured within the hosting control panel. Upgrading to the full version of ASPSecured could also be done using links within the control panel. For those using a hosting company that did not offer built-in activation of ASPSecured the add-on could still be manually downloaded from ASP-Programmers and installed on the server.

ASPSecured Pros and Cons

Pros: ASPSecured offers a robust system of automatic user registration and management that includes automatic renewals, deactivations, and payment integration. In addition, the ease of integration makes utilizing ASPSecured an easy choice regardless of one’s level of experience.

Cons: ASPSecured is no longer available or supported by the the developers, ASP-Programmers. In addition, the search engine indexed sub-folder created by ASPSecured would be considered unacceptable to some organizations.

Server Requirements

ASPSecured is an add-on for web pages developed in the Active Server Pages (ASP) server-side scripting engine. While it is no longer available for purchase, it should still operate acceptably in a Windows environment. ASP is supported by all currently supported Windows servers. So any host offering space on a Microsoft server should provide the technology necessary to host ASP generated web pages, but it’s always a good idea to confirm that the host you’re considering can support the technology you plan to use before making any commitments.