Pop-Up Password Box? PLEASE HELP?

[LifeInBinary]

Sorry guys, the only place I have actually seen what I am talking about is on pron sites - but does anyone know how to do those pop-up password boxes? I would prefer the exact ones that I see on all the pron sites, but I will settle for any other kind of password protection - or any other suggestions for website security in general. Also, I know there are programs/scripts out there that scramble your source code, but all I see is the thing that does it - no one actually says how to use it - any advice on that, can anyone recommend something good?Any suggestions for either the pop-up password prompts, any other password protection, the source code scramblers, or anything else security-related for websites? This might end up being a hot thread :)Also, when using the pop-up password prompts on the pron sites, they have different passwords for different users - could I also use multiple passwords with these?Thanks for any suggestions, advice, or help...LifeInBinary.

[real_illusions]

if you want mutiple passes for users and such, you need a database (mysql usually) and php (a server side scripting language).If your confident no-one will be able to hack into your database via sql injections or anything else, then go ahead and code it yourself. But, since it doesn't look like you can (otherwise you wont be asking the question)...then have a quick search ofr "user login scripts" on google, you should find a few gazillion results. However, finding the right one can be tricky. As they're all different to setup, some have millions of files, others have a few, some require databaes, some dont.However, a secure database driven user login script is usually the best way to go.

[LifeInBinary]

Thanks for going into detail about that real_illusions. Just to let you or anyone else know where I'm comming from...It doesn't have to be very secure. I am making a family website for all my relatives to keep in touch, and I want it password protected just so some random creep on the internet doesn't stumble upon it via Google and see information about me and my family. So I am going to password protect the whole site, then email one password to all my family members - maybe set it so that multiple instances are allowed with the same pass. I doubt that anyone is going to spend much time trying to bruteforce or exploit their way around that. It's just to keep the average Joe out.Also, I only need 2 passwords. I want to give one to my family members, so that they can access the site - then I want to keep one separate for myself, which will allow access to sections of the site that I want to add for my own benefit, but keep private to the rest of the family. What I am hoping for, is that if their password is put in, it directs them to the "family" site which is limited - and if MY password is entered, then it directs me to the "private" site, which has more areas, different content and links, maybe a proxy section, etc...Any suggestions on a specific login code that may be good for me would be great. And again, thanks for all the help!Also, any other ideas on how to do this would be great - seeing as that I don't need a lot of security and only 2 passwords.I want to avoid the database route, as I don't know much about MySQL or using databases with HTML/JavaScript yet.LifeInBinary.

[real_illusions]

you can password certain folders on your site using the .htaccess file.Do a search on '.htaccess passwords' on google and you should find a few gazillion results. It doesn't require a database and is relatively easy to set up, plus you can add in as many users as you want (as far as i'm aware of).

[Err]

Yup. You can have as many of users as you want if you're going with the .htaccess method. I have it on my personal site and it works great. I'm not sure how secure doing it this way is though. You can go to Dynamic Drive to do your own passwords if your hosting services doesn't already provide it.

[Anders Moen]

The best is to use a server-side language, like PHP with MySQL database. I'm just saying this because I can't get .htaccess on my site to work right. (yes, my host do provide .htaccess)But if you need a login script with PHP and MySQL you can just search for "login script php". You get lots of good scripts then

[justsomeguy]

Your host may also let you password protect directories through a control panel. I know you can do that through cPanel, if your host has a different control panel you might be able to do it.

[LifeInBinary]

Yup. You can have as many of users as you want if you're going with the .htaccess method. I have it on my personal site and it works great. I'm not sure how secure doing it this way is though. You can go to Dynamic Drive to do your own passwords if your hosting services doesn't already provide it.

The password tool I found on the Dynamic Drive link you gave my looked like exactly what I need, but there's just one problem: I've never worked with .htaccess and .htpasswd before - I only recently heard about it. Could you by any chance explain to me what I need to do to set up my site with .htaccess and .htpasswd? At the moment all I am using is .html and .jpg - lol. Do I just make text files and rename the extension like for .html or do I need a software package like for forums or what? Any help with this would be completely and totally awesome - this method is exactly what I was looking for.Thanks as always guys,LifeInBinary.

[Err]

Enter the usernames and passwords you want into that password creator site. Leave the other options as they are and submit it. Open up notepad. Copy/paste the contents of .htaccess into a blank notepad and save it as .htaccess (no spaces or any characters before the . [dot]), an ideal location for the moment would be your desktop. Open up another blank notepad and copy/paste the contents of .htpasswd into it. Save the file as .htpasswd, again it's by itself with no spaces or characters in front of it. You should now have 2 files, .htaccess and .htpasswd. Upload both these files into the directory you want to protect (e.g www.example.com/movies/, where /movies/ would be the protected directory). Once you do that, find your server root directory path to the .htpasswd file (e.g. /home/example/movies/.htpasswd). Once you have the directory path, open up the .htaccess file, find where it has line of: AuthUserFile /home/mysite/.htpasswd and change the path it has to the sever root path you found earlier. Save it and test it out with your username and password you used into the input box that appears when you access your password protected directory. If all works out, it should work. :)There are probably more easier ways of doing this, but this is the only way I know at the moment.

[LifeInBinary]

Enter the usernames and passwords you want into that password creator site. Leave the other options as they are and submit it. Open up notepad. Copy/paste the contents of .htaccess into a blank notepad and save it as .htaccess (no spaces or any characters before the . [dot]), an ideal location for the moment would be your desktop. Open up another blank notepad and copy/paste the contents of .htpasswd into it. Save the file as .htpasswd, again it's by itself with no spaces or characters in front of it. You should now have 2 files, .htaccess and .htpasswd. Upload both these files into the directory you want to protect (e.g www.example.com/movies/, where /movies/ would be the protected directory). Once you do that, find your server root directory path to the .htpasswd file (e.g. /home/example/movies/.htpasswd). Once you have the directory path, open up the .htaccess file, find where it has line of: AuthUserFile /home/mysite/.htpasswd and change the path it has to the sever root path you found earlier. Save it and test it out with your username and password you used into the input box that appears when you access your password protected directory. If all works out, it should work. :)There are probably more easier ways of doing this, but this is the only way I know at the moment.

Thanks for that. If I am using Geocities until I can afford real hosting, then would my AuthUserFile be the full URL of the .htpasswd file? Also, I want one password for all the members to have access (just one) - and one for me. Mine will allow access to different areas of the website than theirs will. So two questions: 1) can multiple users with the same username/password be logged on at the same time with this method? 2) can I make that additional password for myself by putting a second set of .htaccess and .htpasswd in the directories that I want to have access in, and using a different username/password for myself?Again, thanks for the assistence RahXephon, you have been very helpful.LifeInBinary.

[Err]

... then would my AuthUserFile be the full URL of the .htpasswd file?

I won't be a url, but a path: Indicates the path where a file is physically located on the server for the specific sub-domain. A real example would be like: /home/www/oneuse.awardspace.com/test/.htaccess. Your hosting provider control panel should tell you the path when you are browsing through your folders on your site.

can multiple users with the same username/password be logged on at the same time with this method?

I really don't know about that. Just have to try it out yourself.

can I make that additional password for myself by putting a second set of .htaccess and .htpasswd in the directories that I want to have access in, and using a different username/password for myself?

You can add in as many usernames/passwords as you like for any directory. You can have your own username/password and other people will have a different one. You don't have to make more .htaccess/.htpasswd files in order to add more usernames/passwords, you can just add it with your other ones, as long as it's in the same directory... if not, then yes, you would have to make some new ones.

[LifeInBinary]

Thanks RahXephon, I will give that a shot and see what happens.Thanks for the help,LifeinBinary.

[Err]

No problem.

[gacattac]

Sorry guys, the only place I have actually seen what I am talking about is on pron sites - but does anyone know how to do those pop-up password boxes? I would prefer the exact ones that I see on all the pron sites, but I will settle for any other kind of password protection - or any other suggestions for website security in general. Also, I know there are programs/scripts out there that scramble your source code, but all I see is the thing that does it - no one actually says how to use it - any advice on that, can anyone recommend something good?Any suggestions for either the pop-up password prompts, any other password protection, the source code scramblers, or anything else security-related for websites? This might end up being a hot thread :)Also, when using the pop-up password prompts on the pron sites, they have different passwords for different users - could I also use multiple passwords with these?Thanks for any suggestions, advice, or help...LifeInBinary.

You can make one easily here: http://tools.dynamicdrive.com/password/