[AChimp]

I think that if you assign a value attribute to the checkbox, it will return that value rather than the name of the checkbox. Either way, just outputting the checkbox won't really display what you want.

Your friend is correct. You need to check for the checkbox value, then do something based on that value (or no value) with an if-statement.

Password protecting a folder can probably be done through your host. It's safest to do it at the server level rather than making a complicated login system. You should check out what kinds of things they offer in their control panel thing.