Passwords in ASP.NET

Well #2 is built in to .net 2.0 so let me know if you decided to use 1.1, you would have to do that manually but is rather simple.

#1 is not hard with .net at all. If you want to use a hash with salt or any other crypto you can use this example class from MSDN:
[code]
Imports System.IO
Imports System.Security.Cryptography
Imports System.Threading

Class SampleCrypto

    ' This routine creates a new symmetric algorithm object of the chosen type.
    Public Sub New(ByVal strCryptoName As String)
        ' The shared Create method of the abstract symmetric algorithm base class
        ' implements a factory design for the creation of its concrete classes.
        crpSym = SymmetricAlgorithm.Create(strCryptoName)

        ' Initialize the byte arrays to the proper length for the
        ' instantiated crypto class.
        ReDimByteArrays()
    End Sub

    Private abytIV() As Byte
    Private abytKey() As Byte
    Private abytSalt() As Byte
    Private crpSym As SymmetricAlgorithm
    Private strPassword As String = ""
    Private strSaltIVFile As String = ""
    Private strSourceFile As String = ""

    Public Property Password() As String
        Get
            Return strPassword
        End Get
        Set(ByVal Value As String)
            strPassword = Value
        End Set
    End Property

    Public Property SaltIVFile() As String
        Get
            Return strSaltIVFile
        End Get
        Set(ByVal Value As String)
            If File.Exists(Value) Then
               strSaltIVFile = Value
            Else
               Throw New FileNotFoundException("The SaltIV .dat file for the " & _
                    "selected crypto type was not found. Before encrypting or " & _
                    "decrypting you must create this file.")
            End If
        End Set
    End Property

    Public Property SourceFileName() As String
        Get
            Return strSourceFile
        End Get
        Set(ByVal Value As String)
            If File.Exists(Value) Then
               strSourceFile = Value
            Else
               Throw New FileNotFoundException(Value & " does not exist.")
            End If
        End Set
    End Property

    ' This routine creates a .dat file containing the salt and IV.
    Public Function CreateSaltIVFile(ByVal strSaveToPath As String) As Boolean

        ' Initialize the byte arrays to the proper length for the
        ' instantiated crypto class.
        ReDimByteArrays()

        ' Create a Filestream object to write the salt and IV to a file.
        Dim fsKey As New FileStream(strSaveToPath, FileMode.OpenOrCreate, _
            FileAccess.Write)

        ' Generate a random "salt" value. These random bytes are appended to the
        ' password before the key derivation, making what a "Dictionary
        ' Attack" much more difficult. The concept is similar to the use of an IV.
        Dim rng As RandomNumberGenerator = RandomNumberGenerator.Create()
        rng.GetBytes(abytSalt)

        Dim pdb As New PasswordDeriveBytes(strPassword, abytSalt)
        ' Get the same amount of bytes as the current abytKey length as set in
        ' ReDimByteArrays().
        abytKey = pdb.GetBytes(abytKey.Length)

        ' Generate a new random IV.
        crpSym.GenerateIV()
        abytIV = crpSym.IV

        Try
            fsKey.Write(abytSalt, 0, abytSalt.Length)
            fsKey.Write(abytIV, 0, abytIV.Length)
            strSaltIVFile = strSaveToPath
            Return True
        Catch exp As Exception
            Throw New Exception(exp.Message)
        Finally
            fsKey.Close()
        End Try
    End Function

    ' This routine decrypts a file.
    Public Sub DecryptFile()

        ' If the password is an empty string assume the user has not checked the
        ' "Advanced" CheckBox or has not entered a password and thus is not using
        ' a password-derived key. In such a case the symmetric algorithm obje

I think I will find that very useful as I am trying to learn .Net over the next couple of weeks