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- LOCK & KEY Windows 95 Explorer PGP Interface
- Version 3.2 beta 2, April 23, 1997
-
- *** PLEASE NOTE NEW EMAIL ADDRESS: <wheindl@voicenet.com> ***
-
- BETA 2 ADDS A NEW FEATURE TO KEYCHAIN: IF YOU HAVE EUDORA (INCLUDING THE LITE VERSION)
- INSTALLED, YOU CAN RIGHT-CLICK ON ANY PUBLIC KEY TO COMPOSE AN ENCRYPTED MESSAGE WHICH
- WILL BE SENT USING EUDORA. Please note the following:
- - The install program will attempt to find Eudora by looking to see whether Eudora has
- captured the "mailto" url. If another mail program has captured the "mailto" url,
- Eudora won't be found. You can manually enter the path to eudora.exe to LOCK&KEY.INI
- under the entry MailPath under [Lock32], e.g.
- [Lock32]
- MailPath=d:\internet\eudora\eudora.exe
- - This feature is known to work with Eudora Lite version 3. I will be interested in
- hearing whether this feature works with other e-mail programs.
- - The recipient's public key User ID must state a valid e-mail address. This is customary
- for PGP public keys. Please note that the User ID on the public key is the address to
- which the message will be sent.
- - The sender's (your) e-mail address is the user name for your default secret key. This
- is found under "MyName" in CONFIG.TXT. If MyName has not been set, use KeyChain's
- secret key window, pick your default secret key, right-click and choose Make Default.
- - The message composition window can be resized and will remember its settings.
- - The message composition window supports signing messages (using the default secret key)
- as well as adding your public key to the message. These are toggled on the Option
- menu. The current setting is visible both on the menu and at the bottom of the message
- composition window: e.g. a key (if the append key option is checked); and the pass
- phrase box grayed out (if the signature option is not checked).
- - This beta release performs no error checking; e.g. if you enter a bad pass phrase for
- signature. This will be corrected in the final release. I also intend to add an option
- for choosing the editor font.
- - The message composition window supports standard Windows editing commands (Undo, Cut,
- Copy, Paste) including their keyboard shortcuts.
- - A message will appear after your message has been encrypted and queued into Eudora.
- I suggest that beta testers open their Eudora outbox and look at the message which has
- been created (it will be prefixed with a Q indicating the message is queued but not
- sent).
- I am particularly interested in feedback on this new feature. This is a few steps short
- of a Eudora plug-in, which is a longer term goal; but it does offer convenience in that
- KeyChain automatically maintains, in effect, the address book. Also, the editor is
- specially tailored for encryption of messages.
-
- Also fixed in this beta 2 release is a bug in Lock32 which caused the clipboard contents
- not to be found when saving a file.
-
- THE FOLLOWING CHANGES WERE MADE IN THE BETA 1 RELEASE:
- - LOCK & KEY uses PGP to read the public and secret keyrings in all cases. The key
- ring contents are stored in a cache (CACHE.KEY in the Lock & Key folder). When
- encrypting to a single recipient, the unique Key ID (rather than the user ID) is
- used to encrypt. This has three consequences. First, loading of the keyrings is
- almost instantaneous (except where the keyrings have changed and the cache needs to
- be updated). Second, since PGP functions are used to read the keyrings, compatibility
- problems experienced by some users will be avoided. Third, since the key ID is shorter
- than the key name, problems experienced by some users with an excessively long PGP
- command line are avoided.
- - Configuration settings are stored in LOCK&KEY.INI in the Lock & Key directory,
- rather than in the Registry. This makes user modification of configuration
- settings easier.
- - The viewer names are stored in LOCK&KEY.INI. Two viewers are supported: a binary
- viewer, and an ASCII viewer. The binary viewer is set to be QuickView if present.
- The ASCII viewer is by default set to NOTEPAD.EXE. The correct viewer is selected
- based on whether the file is binary or text. RTF and HTML files are treated as
- binary.
- - While the program will install by default to a subdirectory under the PGP directory,
- this location can be changed via a folder path dialog box.
- - When decrypting a signed file, KEY32 now reports bad signatures (altered contents)
- as well as good signatures.
- - RUNPGP.PIF has been modified to remove the name of the batch file. This bug had
- caused RUNPGP.BAT to be run twice on some (but not all) systems, resulting in various
- odd behavior, all related to Lock & Key being unable to find the PGP output.
- - The delay before KEY32 deletes temporary files has been increased from 5 to 12
- seconds. This gives QuickView+ version 4.0 time to load (if it has not already
- been loaded in the session). I may make this delay user configurable in the final
- release.
- - Lock & Key temporarily renames files whose names contain accented characters, in
- order to permit PGP to properly process these files. Upon completion, the files
- are given their original names. This solves a bug which caused Lock & Key to fail
- when handling filenames with certain accented characters. I may make this feature
- user configurable in the final release, to improve performance and safety for those
- who don't need this feature.
- - A bug in LOCK32 which caused a message encrypted to the clipboard to fail to be
- copied to the clipboard has been corrected.
-
- LOCK & KEY is the first and foremost PGP interface to the Windows 95
- Explorer, specifically designed to support key Windows 95 features:
- - Right-click on any file in Explorer to encrypt it.
- - Double-click on any encrypted file to decrypt it.
- - Decrypt files to QuickView/QuickView Plus if present.
- - Encrypt/decrypt to/from the Windows clipboard.
- - Preserve Windows 95 long file names when encrypting.
-
- **********************************************************************
- Four stars - ZDNet (Ziff-Davis)
- Four cows - TUCOWS (The Ultimate Collection of Windows Shareware)
- 1001 Best Shareware - PC/Computing Magazine
- **********************************************************************
-
- LOCK & KEY supports most common PGP functions, extending many of them:
- - Encrypt files as binary or armored.
- - Include your public key when sending messages.
- - Option to wipe original file after encryption.
- - Sign files when encrypting.
- - Choose a secret key for making signatures from a drop-down list.
- - View signatures in Windows 95 when decrypting.
- - View the public key ring and delete individual keys.
- - Pick a recipient's public key from a drop-down list.
- - Encrypt files to self.
- - Use conventional or public key cryptography.
-
- **********************************************************************
- NEW!!! You can now register Lock & Key online using First VirtualĂ–.
- First Virtual provides secure electronic commerce using your Visa or
- MasterCard. It is secure - you do not transmit your credit card
- information online. Annual registration as a buyer costs $2.00 -
- this fee will be deducted from all orders received before March 1,
- 1997! For information on registering as a First Virtual buyer,
- please follow the link to First Virtual on our web page. Once
- you have received your VirtualPIN, you can order LOCK & KEY online
- at our web site, http://www.voicenet.com/~wheindl/order.htm.
- **********************************************************************
-
- NEW IN VERSION 3.1:
- - New module KEYCHAIN provides key management functions: view the
- public and secret keyrings, extract keys to files or to the clipboard,
- remove keys, check the fingerprint of a key, generate key pairs, and
- choose the default secret key for making signatures.
- - LOCK & KEY will handle multiple files and messages. Just select
- multiple files and send to LOCK & KEY. LOCK & KEY will run KEY32 if
- the input data contains encrypted files or messages; otherwise, LOCK32
- will be run.
- - LOCK32 permits you to compose messages for encryption using your
- choice of editor and template file.
- - Updated help file featuring a Lock & Key tutorial and *live* links
- which you can use to access the Web or send tech support mail from the
- Help file. Now learning to use PGP is easier than ever!
- - For greater security, LOCK & KEY now passes the PGP pass phrase to
- PGP without writing it to disk.
- - KEY32 now automatically finds encrypted messages and keys in e-mail
- messages, checks formatting and even strips "quoting" characters which
- some mail programs add to mail messages, making it much easier to decrypt a
- PGP message that has been pasted into e-mail.
- - Decrypted messages can be copied to the Windows clipboard.
- - LOCK32 provides for the option of preserving the original file name when
- encrypting to the Clipboard. If the filename has been preserved with
- LOCK32, KEY32 will offer to save the decrypted file using the original
- filename.
- - You can now choose the filename for saving decrypted or encrypted messages
- where no filename is provided. Also, if the filename would overwrite an
- existing file, you are prompted and can choose another filename.
- - You may now choose to run PGP normal, minimized (default) or hidden.
- Right-click on the Help button in Lock32 and choose options.
-
- To install LOCK & KEY, follow these steps:
- 1. Unzip all files to a disk or directory.
- 2. Run INSTALL.EXE.
-
- LOCK & KEY is written in Microsoft Visual Basic and requires the Visual
- Basic 4/32 bit runtime (VB40032.DLL). If you do not have this file, see
- the Installation section of the Help file which will explain how to get this
- file.
-
- LOCK & KEY supports Windows 95 automatic uninstallation.
-
- LOCK & KEY is shareware. The shareware version is fully functional
- but includes a shareware delay and registration reminder.
- Registration is U.S. $19.95. To register, send U.S. $19.95 to:
- Walter E. Heindl
- 271 Misty Patch Road
- Coatesville, PA 19320
-
- You may also register LOCK & KEY on CompuServe. Type GO SWREG.
- Registration number is 12438. Registered users will receive a
- password which will remove the shareware delay for this and future
- versions.
-
- Visit http://www.voicenet.com/~wheindl/order.htm to order online using your
- credit card and the First Virtual Internet payment system.
-
- You may freely distribute the shareware archive provided that all
- files are intact.
-
- For technical support, bug reports or suggestions, send email to:
-
- Walter E. Heindl <wheindl@voicenet.com>
-
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