bug has locked the program: please help!

[Mike Monahan]

Out of the blue, AxCrypt, logged me out out for the first time ever, requiring my email address as well as the password. I tried logging back in and accidentally misspelled the email address. This should be easily fixable by logging out, but the program  will not allow me to log out.  When I press the “switch user” button, I get an error message saying that “the last file could not be re-encrypted and I must close all applications with open encrypted files first!”  The file is no longer on the computer, so nothing is open. I have tried restarting many times. I get the same message. I uninstalled AxCrypt and reinstalled it. It remembers the old misspelled email address. I tried re-opening the particular file but I can’t since the email address is misspelled. It’s a chicken or the egg problem. It’s stuck on the last file. I have also selected to “clear all settings and restart.” So on this computer, I am no longer able to access any of my encrypted files. The file has a red broom next to it. What can I do?

[Prabhukumar RModerator]

Hello Mike,

AxCrypt will keep track on the opened encrypted files, to update and re-encrypt the same. If we opened the file and updated the contents, then AxCrypt will re-encrypt the updated file.

So after editing the encrypted files, we have to click the broom icon or sign out from the AxCrypt app to re-encrypt the updated files.We have to close all the instance of the encrypted file(s) opened application.

And the AxCrypt app will be checking whether the opened file and the corresponding application are closed or not? If closed, then the AxCrypt app will automatically update the contents of the file and re-encrypt the same.

Actually, we have to close the file opened application completely, to update and re-encrypt the file. Sometimes, we have to manually click the red Broom icon, to clean and update the pending files.

Please note: If you opened and updated an encrypted text file with notepad and at the same time you had opened an another notepad application also, then you have to close both the opened applications to re-encrypt the encrypted files. You have to close all the opened corresponding applications properly.

Please close the encrypted file and corresponding file, then you can signout/exit from the AxCrypt app. without any issue.

If you have any queries, please feel free to contact our support via support@axcrypt.net.

[Mike Monahan]

Hi Prabhukumar, thank you so much for the prompt reply. At the end of the day, your reply assumes that what’s happening is operator error and not a bug in the system as my subject suggests. I know how to use AxCrypt as I’ve been using it for years. I am no longer able to encypt or decrypt files because the wrong email is stuck in the program. You suggest closing the stuck open file but it’s not open -thus the bug. I’ve attempted to close the file and it seems impossible -thus the bug. The stuck file isn’t even on the computer anymore, so it can’t be open. I’ve restarted the program and computer multiple times, and uninstalled and reinstalled AxCrypt more than once. There’s no open file to close: it’s just stuck. It always comes back to the stuck file. You suggest logging out; the central issue is that I am unable to log out – no matter what. I can not log out because there’s a stuck open file and the program will allow no other action to be taken until the problem is resolved. I have tried clicking the red broom many times, it does nothing. I feel like I’m running out of options quickly here. Uninstalling and reinstalling the program should have worked, but clearly there are files on my computer which are not being removed during the uninstall. If I can only delete these files, I could get a fresh start. How do I delete this metadata left behind on my PC after the uninstall? I look forward to hearing from you.

[Prabhukumar RModerator]

Hello Mike,

Please You can make a video record about the issue and send it to our support team(support@axcrypt.net). We check the video and try to resolve the issue.

Also, please tell about – which operating system version and AxCrypt app version you are using?

[Mike Monahan]

I got it working! As you know, I’m using the latest version of AxCrypt since I uninstalled and reinstalled it multiple times amidst this hardship. The stuck file was a Microsoft Word file, so I launched Word rather than opening a Word file. When doing this, Word shows the recently used documents. There’s an option to delete files from the “Recent” menu. I can’t imagine it would actually delete a file, but I knew it would at least remove it from the recently used menu. For the heck of it, having run out of ideas after spending a dozen hours over many days, I decided to delete the last few files from the “Recent” menu with one of them being that troublesome file that got everything stuck. After that, everything worked perfectly. I was able to finally logout of the misspelled account on AxCrypt and then log back in with my proper credentials. Once again, AxCrypt is humming along. I appreciate your care and attention in working with me on this issue. I hope that my solution can be archived somewhere to help others.

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