Password protected network folder: I know it is possible to specify user and password when you put scripts on an ftp server, e.g.
ftp://user:password@ftp.myserver.com/guixt/
Is there a similar notation for a shared network folder that is password protected? I need it to access images on the shared folder.

To our knowledge there is no similar notation for shared network folders. What you can do is the following:

Specify the image with a drive letter, e.g. Z:. Use the "exe=" option of the image command to name a .bat file that is executed if the image is not found. In this .bat file, you can assign the drive letter Z: using a user name and password. Example:

Image (1,80) "Z:\x.jpg" exe="assign_drive.bat"

// assign_drive.bat

net use Z: \\DISCSTATION\Synactive\temp password /USER:username"

An inconvenience of this approach is that it assumes that the drive letter Z: has not yet been assigned on the user's PC.