and the response.write i want in the body of the page to assess the value?

It doesn't matter where it goes. It will get wrote to the response stream none the less.

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i put auth - <%Response.Write(Session("Authenticated"))%> and after logging in and logging out the result was blank.

so if this is what is meant to happen then the problem comes after i load the home page (and then i go straight into the address bar and go to the protected page which i shouldnt be able to do.)

I assume that your if statement on your protected page is something like this:

If Session("Authenticated") = "0" then
   response.redirect("home.asp")
Else
   'Access protected page
End if

Problem is (if i am correct in my assumption) you never test for a blank value, so yes you get access to the protected page because Authenticated does not == 0

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i see, my protection is pretty much the same except i have no else.

<%
If Session("Authenticated") = 0 Then
  Response.Redirect ("Login.html")
End If
%>

if it registering blank then is there a way around this? implement an elseif where if session("Authenticated") = "" then you get sent to the login page?

would "" signify blank or all values?

that or my global.asa is not firing. on other pages, the code is highlighted colours depending on what you are saying except on global.asa, the code is not highlighted, almost like DW does not recognise the code.

i have created the code as i learnt and so i dont believe it to be wrong but i do not know

Change your Logic:

If Session("Authenticated") <> "1" Then
  Response.Redirect ("Login.html")
End If

Then all values other then 1 cause the user to be sent to the login page.

Yes when you designate a string as stringValue = "" means it is a blank string, however, this is not to be confused with the absence of data or NULL. (As an FYI, vbscript does NOT understand the NULL keyword to specify a null object or string you have to set it to a value of Nothing.)

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i wish i said it worked, i really do. i have input the code as you put.
i really think now that the global.asa is not firing up - how would i know if it working?

That doesn't make any sense. If the value is blank, that If statement should execute. Is your directory setup as an application directory on IIS?

Forget the logout page for a moment, when you login, do a response.write of the authenticated session value, does it, in fact, equal 1/

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that does = 1!!

so how do i check that the directory is set as an app directory? i believe it is done but just in case.....