As we all know, ASP code is relatively safe from surfers. When people try to download ASP code, all they see is the processed HTML (unless you haven't
patched the ::$DATA bug).
Many people are concerned, however, about protecting their ASP code from prying eyes (either code they are distributing to clients, or code that sits on a shared server).
You can compile your code into DLLs. Often this isn't an option, because most hosts won't accept custom components (some, like Data Return, will accept it -- if you turn over administrative control and allow them to review your source code). Read
this article for a tutorial on creating a simple VB6 ActiveX DLL.
The other option is to use
Windows Script Encoder. However, before you decide to go this route, make sure you read
this article, which demonstrates how easy it is to reverse engineer these 'encoded' scripts.