Forum Replies Created
-
AuthorPosts
-
Hello aophiuchus,
Once a file is encrypted with AxCrypt, it remains encrypted until decrypted. An AxCrypt-encrypted file is just a file, like a PDF file, a ZIP file, a TAR file, a TXT file, a DOCX file etc. So no matter how you copy it or move it around, it remains encrypted until decrypted.
Hello Jack C.,
Thank you for your insightful and detailed comments. We, and I, really appreciate this type of dialog with real users of our software. It’s how we keep doing things which are good, and improve the things we can do better. Without input like yours, it’s so much harder to decide how to continue develop AxCrypt.
Here’s the issue for password-based sharing, if you’d like to follow it to get advance info when it’s coming into AxCrypt: https://bitbucket.org/axantum/axcrypt-net/issues/131/add-sharing-password .
Hi Jack C.,
Thanks for your detailed input. We are considering various ways of supporting the “multiple password” paradigm, without making things more complicated for normal use, or risk of data loss (that’s a real danger with version 1 – people do forget their passwords, this risk is reduced when the number of passwords is reduced).
Hello Jack C,
Thank you for your input!
I’d like to know more about what gives you the impression that version 2 has “a container concept with spatial vagueness“. Obviously we’re doing something wrong here. AxCrypt 2 works just like AxCrypt 1 – it encrypts individual files, and nothing else. It does have a feature where it monitors folders for files to encrypt, perhaps this is causing the confusion.
We really think the shared key feature works better for sending encrypted files to friends and family, while still maintaining a reasonable security model. Using “understood shared password (or hints for alternates)” is so weak I don’t really see the point at all of going through the extra effort of using a strong encryption tool with such a weak security model. I’d recommend attaching an informative text just stating that this content is private, and anyone but the legitimate reader really should not peek. I think it’ll provide stronger protection, really!
From an AxCrypt point of view, we’d like to discourage such use of the product, since when the data is leaked due the weak key management we’ll probably get the blame while in fact it’s just how it’s (mis-)used that is the real problem. We’d like AxCrypt to be really easy to use, and hard to misuse.
Hello Bill,
No, we don’t support Windows XP. Neither does Microsoft since 2014. However, older versions of AxCrypt do work.
You way want to check out just how AxCrypt works. Version 1.x at http://www.axantum.com/ and version 2.x at https://forum.axcrypt.net/ .
We do not provide any support for version 1.x of AxCrypt either.
Hello Witek,
The problem is that although we technically can encrypt a file as soon as it appears in a folder, it won’t work and it’ll be a race between the synchronizing agent and AxCrypt. AxCrypt may win this race most of the time, but we can’t guarantee it.
The reason it won’t work at all, is because it’ll confuse applications. Let’s say you start Word, start editing a document, and then hit “Save As”. You save it is “stuff.docx”. AxCrypt sees it and immediately encrypts it as “stuff-docx.axx”, and wipes “stuff.docx”. This really confuses Word, which thought it just created the file “stuff.docx”…. There are many variants of this scenario, but in the end it just doesn’t work reliably enough.
We’re still testing out how AxCrypt interacts with Drive File Stream, and what we can do about that. With backup and sync the operation is similar to the current Drive implementation.
Hello Yon,
AxCrypt 1.4 is not old. It’s ancient, it’s over 15 years old! You *really* should consider keeping your system and software up to date.
I’m very confused when you say “the axcrypt application file that it put in the program files/axantum/axcrypt folder doesn’t run – nothing happens when you click on it“. Of course not, AxCrypt version 1 never worked like that.
You say you’ve used AxCrypt since 1.4 – it never worked like you try to – clicking the AxCrypt executable. (Version 2 *does* work like that).
Are you sure you’ve used AxCrypt version 1 before?
Please read the instructions on how AxCrypt 1 works at http://www.axantum.com/ .
Hello Yon,
And just how old is that version? We know of no problems with installing and using the most recent AxCrypt version 1.7 on Windows 10. You can download this version from our legacy web site http://www.axantum.com/ .
If you are having trouble installing that version on Windows 10, can you please send a screen shot of whatever error message you get?
Hello Matt B,
If certain files need to be shared with specific parties, the key sharing feature should be used instead of different shared passwords! It allows seamless sharing of encrypted files, without sharing of any passwords. It uses strong public key cryptography to achieve this.
Hello Juliana,
Unfortunately, if you do not know the password for an AxCrypt-encrypted file you cannot open it, even if you can sign in to the account. This is by design, it’s just this situation that AxCrypt is made for and it works like this even if you actually are the original owner of the file.
Please check the FAQ at https://forum.axcrypt.net/support/faq/ for more information.
Hello Yon,
We do believe that the version 2 is an improvement, and that the use of a single password, that is remembered for the duration of a session, encourages the use of a good, strong password.
However, it’s of course also a matter of opinion, but you are of course free to use the old version 1 for as long as you like!
Hello Brian,
Can you please be more specific about your situation, preferably with screen shots to illustrate?
Hello Yon,
You can set an inactivity timer, and if you have a screen saver you’ll also have to enter the password after it has been activated.
If you *ever* leave your computer signed in an untrusted environment, there are no longer any guarantees about anything. It doesn’t matter how AxCrypt operates in this case.
Take as a an absolute routine to never leave your computer without locking the screen first.
Please read https://forum.axcrypt.net/blog/leaving-computer-axcrypt/ for a longer discussion about this.
Hello Richard,
AxCrypt is a file encryption software. It does not create encrypted folders. This is a very different type of application. If you’re running Windows I suggest you use the built-in functionality for this – Encrypting File System, or EFS. Do remember to backup your recovery certificate (you’ll be prompted)! Or else, you risk data loss if you need to re-install Windows, or your computer crashes beyond recovery.
Hello matthew,
Not sure I understand. We can’t help you with pulling the encrypted file down off the server. From your post it appeared that you in fact had access to the file – both on a PC and a Mac – “off the server”.
-
AuthorPosts