[AxCrypt SupportModerator]

Hello Daniel,

An AxCrypt-encrypted file is just a file, nothing else. Just copy them to the USB stick and delete them appropriately from the PC after verifying that all was successfully copied, like would with any file you want to move from one media to another.

Ensuring that “no traces” remain afterwards, requires more tools than AxCrypt. While AxCrypt Premium can wipe the files so they are not recoverable by any regular utility, “no traces” requires more and may in fact be hard to achieve. So it depends on what you really mean with “no traces”.

In general, since they are encrypted, simply deleting them and emptying the wastebasket will take you a long way towards removing most traces, however for example parts of the file name may remain in the file system, and of course the encrypted data – but it’s encrypted so it’s worthless unless the password is known.

[AxCrypt SupportModerator]

Hello Enzo,

What version and what platform are you running on?

Have you tried “Clear All Settings” – sometimes this problem is caused by windows becoming located outside of your physical screen, perhaps by having an external monitor disconnected.

[AxCrypt SupportModerator]

Hi Leonard,

Thanks for the feedback. Some of it is are your personal opinions, they must remain so. It is meaningless to discuss the fact you don’t like the new UI design without some concrete ideas from you to improve it for example.

However, there are some technical misunderstandings that should be corrected, and some basis for changes that you may not be aware of.

“Automatic decryption” – this was always an option with AxCrypt 1.x (“Remember this key for decryption”).
“Need to be logged on” – this was also in essence an option with AxCrypt 1.x (“Remember this key for encryption”).

The basic reason for making these non-optional defaults was because of usage errors of users causing data loss, as well as increased convenience. It’s simply more convenient not to need to enter your password all the time, and the “log on” metaphor is to reduce and avoid the risk of a user using different or mistyped passwords and then being unable to decrypt. This is based on real world experience of millions of users. The new model has essentially stopped data loss caused by these mistakes.

“if, by any chance, someone gets 20 seconds of access to your PC, not only you lose access to newly encrypted files, but you lose access to all your encrypted files, on all devices in sync” – This is simply incorrect. The way it’s designed you can always open the files with the password used initially to encrypt them. So you do not lose access. Also, you just can’t dismiss the fact that if you leave your PC unattended it’s not safe anymore. It’s not! You just can’t leave your PC without a screen saver or anything! If you do, it makes no sense to consider security at all.

That we changed some previously free options into paid options is of course unfortunate for you as a free user – but the alternative to getting some revenue was to simply abandon the whole thing. As it is, you can still use 1.x for as long as you like, and you get the same and in some cases better functionality for nothing with version 2.x

Thanks again for your feedback!

[AxCrypt SupportModerator]

Hello jmh,

To our knowledge there is currently no third party software available to decrypt AxCrypt-encrypted files. However, anyone with the correct skills can create such software – the specifications are published and also the main AxCrypt software is open source.

You can always download and keep a backup copy of the standalone version of AxCrypt, or even the source code. That is all you need. You never need our servers or our company to be operating to decrypt an encrypted file.

[AxCrypt SupportModerator]

Hello David,

Please ensure you have the most current version. If you do and the problem remains, please send a complete error report ( https://forum.axcrypt.net/blog/send-complete-error-report/ ).

[AxCrypt SupportModerator]

Hello Jari,

First of all, you are probably using version 1.x (or at least were using it when the files in question were encrypted). There was a known issue there when this could happen if a file was on a removable medium and it was removed without using the ‘safe removal’ feature of Windows.

Since the files are literally empty, zero bytes, there is nothing there. I am sorry, but the data is lost and needs to be recovered from backup copies. You can thus delete them, there is no reason to keep them.

[AxCrypt SupportModerator]

Hello Steve,

The use of SHA-1 in AxCrypt is actually still ok, and it does not affect the security in the sense that it’s easier to decrypt because of the limitations of SHA-1. It is used for two things – to produce a 128-bit key from your password, and to make a so-called HMAC – a keyed message authentication code, or a checksum. In extreme theory, although as mentioned in this use case it’s not practical, a low-security HMAC would enable an attacker to make a change to the encrypted data, and the HMAC would not flag this change. The decrypted data would still be wrong, and it will not help the attacker decrypt the data. The use of SHA-1 to produce the actual 128-bit key used for encryption is also a safe use. It will not help an attacker to decrypt the file.

[AxCrypt SupportModerator]

Hello Destinee,

If an employee steals or destroys or hides company property, under most legislations this is illegal under civil or public law.

Encrypting data and keeping the encryption key secret is equivalent to destroying it if the key is not released.

There is no way to decrypt the documents without knowing the password used.

Therefore you should contact your company law firm or the police as appropriate, to make the former employee give you the password or else seek damages and/or a conviction in a court of law.

[AxCrypt SupportModerator]

Hello Paul,

This is indeed so. It has to do with how applications works and how AxCrypt can determine if a file is “free” for re-encryption or not.

With Notepad, there’s no way to know what it has open so when a file is opened with Notepad AxCrypt waits until *all* instances of Notepad are closed. This is the same for many applications.

[AxCrypt SupportModerator]

Hello H J,

Please provide screen shots with the exact messages if you can. You may also do so and contacting support@axcrypt.net .

[AxCrypt SupportModerator]

Hello Normand,

The way phones work requires us to copy the file to our local location when we decrypt them for viewing. They remain there until you explicitly remove them from AxCrypt. There is a context menu for that.

[AxCrypt SupportModerator]

Hello Marcelo,

Unfortunately we believe the icon change is essential (and hard to avoid…). It makes it clear what files are encrypted.

It is also hard to retain the original icon, since the icon is normally associated with the extension (.docx, .xlsx, .pfd, .png, .axx) etc. and this changes to .axx for all encrypted files regardless of the original file.

The use of so called icon overlays is possible, but complicated and actually never really works 100% so we don’t want to go that route.

[AxCrypt SupportModerator]

Hello Terri,

First of all – the error messages indicate that you are using version 1.x of AxCrypt. This versions is obsolete, unmaintained and unsupported…

The scenario in question with multiple users is not one where AxCrypt may be the best choice. AxCrypt works by decrypting the file to a local location, and then when the software detects that the user is done with the file, it re-encrypts the file and copies it back to the original location.

That being said, provided the VPN is stable, it should work the same as over a local area network in the office.

You might want to try version 2.x of AxCrypt. While it works essentially the same, the way it does it is more conservative than version 1.x and it operates via the .NET file access instead of directly via Win32 (Windows native calls). In the end, it should be the same – but…

[AxCrypt SupportModerator]

Hello David,

In this case it seems the recovery was not successful. The error in question indicates that the first 16 bytes of the file does not match the expected value – which in turn indicates a strong likelyhood the entire file is completely corrupted.

So, the answer is unfortunately, no – you can’t repair these files. Sorry.

[AxCrypt SupportModerator]

Hello Nate,

I can’t check your account because I don’t know the account name – but I’m fairly sure you did not do a password *change* – you did a password *reset*. A *change* requires you to know the existing password, and will allow you to open previously encrypted files with the new password. A *reset* just resets the account password so you can sign in – but you can’t open the previously encrypted files with the new password. If this was possible, AxCrypt would not be much of an encryption solution…

So, when you do a password reset, you get access to the account, but opening previously encrypted files requires you to know the password that was in effect at the time of the encryption – thus the term ‘file password’.

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