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Hello Jean-Pierre!
Here’s the thing – we’re changing a lot of things in AxCrypt 2, and there’s a little inconvenience when converting to the new.
We’ve released a new build today, that takes away most of the pain in converting from AxCrypt 1.x .
But, the first thing to understand:
There is no relation as such between the password used to encrypt files in AxCrypt 1.x and the password used to sign in to your AxCrypt ID (account) in AxCrypt 2. So you have to sign in with the password you have for your AxCrypt ID account, but this is not what you may have used to encrypt your old 1.x files. If you have an old account and have forgotten the password, head over to http://www.axcrypt.net/ and isuse a password reset.
So, for old AxCrypt 1.x users, here’s a suggested workflow:
1 – Download and start the app, enter your e-mail.
2a – If you’re asked for a verification code, check your e-mail, and set a good strong password. Do NOT forget it! It’s crucial.
2b – If you’re asked for a password, and you don’t know it (this is not the same as the password you encrypted your old files with), ensure you can sign in to http://www.axcrypt.net/ . Reset password if it’s an old account and you don’t know it anymore. Do NOT forget it this time! This is crucial.
3 – Sign in with your (new) AxCrypt ID password (not the same as for your old 1.x files).
4 – Select and open your old files. You’ll be prompted for the OLD password, this first time. Follow the instructions, and let AxCrypt convert your old 1.x files into the new format as you go along (from AxCrypt 2.1.1391 and later).This sounds more complicated than it is ;-) The only confusing part is the fact that you may temporarily have two different passwords to keep track of – the old, and the new. As your old files are converted, the old password is no longer needed.
Best regards,
Svante
PS – If you really like your old password, and it’s a good, strong one, there’s nothing stopping you from using it for the AxCrypt ID sign in too. In fact, it’s a good idea. It’ll make conversion even easier.
Hi Glenn,,
Thanks for the feedback. I really do appreciate it!
One of the guiding principles for AxCrypt since day one has been that it’s about real security, not perceived security. Another one is that I am in the absolute majority of the cases better equipped to make choices concerning the security.
This has for example led to AxCrypt being on of the few such softwares where you as the user cannot pick and chose what algorithm to use, or how to use it etc.
Now, I’m always open to dicuss the various choices, and I do change my mind when someone gets me to see the light in a different way.
Let me now just give you the “why” in why I’m not supporting the protection of individual files with individual passwords.
It’s because there is no good reason, from a security point of view. In fact, at best it doesn’t make it worse, but in most cases it will. It’s much better security to use one, strong password for all files. There’s no reason to assume that it would run any larger risk of being compromised than any other, and there’s no reason to assume that having many would in any way reduce the risk of all being compromised.
The one reason to use different passwords, is to group files for different uses by different groups of people. For this, we’ve introduced the “Key Sharing” feature, which is so much better and more secure.
That’s anyway why I’ve taken the draconian decision to simply not support it.
It makes AxCrypt much easier to use (fewer things to type and click), and this in turn makes it much more likely to be used.
That’s the why from my point of view. Now I’m honestly interested to hear what you think. I’m not promising to do as you may suggest, but I am promising to listen with an open mind.
Svante
Hello!
The first issue “Exception…” can happen because of file sharing issues, or permissions, that I know of. Does this happen also when you access a local file? I’d very much like to work with you to solve this issue. Later this week, we’ll probably try to release a version with some more diagnostics output for this kind of situation.
The second issue may not be an issue as such. AxCrypt 2 uses a more robust method for the automatic re-encryption, which sometimes means you as the user has to tell AxCrypt to do it. You’ll see this by the “broom” icon becoming red. This indicates there’s something in need of “clean up”, i.e. re-encryption.
Svante
May 15, 2016 at 09:20 in reply to: Can't open existing Axcrypt files with latest version of Axcrypt #3074Hello Bernie!
Sorry for the inconvenience! We’re still fine-tuning the on-boarding process for existing users.
If you have an old account but have forgotten the password, use the “Forgot your password?” link at the lower right on https://account.axcrypt.net/ to reset your password.
Once reset, you can use that to sign in to AxCrypt 2.
We now realize that many old-time AxCrypt users registered with us a long time ago, but since the account has been dormant since then the password is blissfully forgotten.
We’re developing AxCrypt with many new capabilities, and even old-time AxCrypt users will benefit, but it may be a trifle confusing at first.
With both old AxCrypt 1.x and the new AxCrypt 2.x all encryption is done locally, and when all is said and done it’s encrypted with your password, although there are a few layers of indirection involved.
The difference now is that we’re adding extended features with server extensions for other operations, most notably the capability for others to share encrypted data with you (and vice versa), by what we call “key sharing”. There are other features as well, and we’ll be bringing even more to you in the coming months including support for Mac, iOS and Android.
We’re also moving from an advertising revenue-model which has caused some annoyance (and to be honest not sufficient revenue to develop the software as I’d like). Therefore, AxCrypt 2.x has a Free mode more or less equivalent to the old AxCrypt 1.x and a for-pay Premium mode with stronger encryption, key sharing, password mananger and direct support and more to come.
All this requires that users register and prove their credentials to us – i.e. sign in!
We do not store your password on the server. You do not need Internet access to encrypt or decrypt files.
Since we anyway have the sign in, we’re also using that for AxCrypt File Encryption because we don’t want you to have to use more passwords than absolutely necessary. It also opens up some more interesting capapbilites, such as simple password change to all files you ever encrypted.
Therefore, as an old AxCrypt 1.x user, you’ll first have to register, sign in and then convert your old files to the new format to fully benefit.
We’re in the process of improving the conversion process for old users, but for now, decrypt your existing files using your old password, and then encrypt them again with AxCrypt 2. After that, all you’ll need is your new password to AxCrypt 2. The same one for files and for server based services. This is *not* a non-recommended re-use of a password, we’re still a single instance even if we work in two dimensions, locally and server based. Re-use happens if the password you use for AxCrypt is used at a different service, or vice versa.
Yes, the on-boarding and conversion can be experienced as annoying at first! I’m working very hard at making this process much less so!
Best regards,
Svante
Hello Jennifer!
You can resend it by just signing up again on the web-site at https://account.axcrypt.net , but you’re of course right – there should be a resend button in the application dialog.
Thank you. You can follow the issue here: https://bitbucket.org/axantum/axcrypt-net/issues/96/add-resend-verification-button-to-dialog .
Regards,
Svante
Hello!
You write:
Version 1.7 was way simpler to use
Can you explain in more detail why you feel that way? I personally think AxCrypt 2 is much easier to use!
safer, different passwords and keyfiles for every single file
This, I think is not true in an objective way. I cannot imagine how you could manage different passwords and different key-files for every single file, nor do I see any increased security. Just more complex use.
With AxCrypt 2 there is no reason to have different passwords at all, so you can concentrate on having one, really good password instead. If you want to share encrypted files with others, the key sharing feature allows you to do so without sharing passwords. Much easier and more secure.
Finally you write:
the ability to keep open files in a protected vault
This I’m not quite sure what you refer to, and is it missing in AxCrypt 2?
Anyway, it’s your choice of course, but in the end I hope that you may want to try AxCrypt 2 again, and see it in a different light, than just that it’s changed.
Thank you for taking the time to tell us your thoughts!
Best regards,
Svante
Great!
Do contact us again if you have more ideas or questions!
Svante
Hello,
Not in the same way, no. May I ask why you would want to?
AxCrypt 2 is easier and more convenient to use in most scenarios I think. For most cases it’s exactly the same even. You double-click the file, enter your password, and the file opens. Yes, the dialog is now named “Sign In”, insted of “Enter password”, but the keypresses and clicks are actually the same.
Regards,
Svante
Hello, sorry for the delayed response.
Yes, if you download the code and change it, you can have a premium version as far as the local capabilities are concerned. It is entirely within the license agreement (GPL).
However, parts of the functionality is server based, and human based (password manager, direct support, key sharing, etc). These will of course not be available with a hacked version of AxCrypt.
We’re hoping that the free version delivers enough functionality to be really useful to very many, and that the Premium version delivers enough additional value to be good value for the money, for those who wish to support the project and/or want to have access to all those features with full support and maintenance from us.
Regards,
Svante
Hello Glenn,
Thanks a lot for your feedback, it’s really appreciated!
1) Not quite sure I understand here – When you hit the ‘cleanup’, all temporary and new unencrypted files are encrypted (if possible). I think maybe this is actually connected to your idea #2. Correct me if I’m wrong!
2) You *can* sign out of AxCrypt via the ‘File | Sign Out’ menu choice. I think that’s what you mean. However, we already have an issue logged to add the ‘Sign Out’ menu to the right-click menu and to the Notify icon as well. Maybe that’s what you’re missing?
If I’ve misunderstood anything, please let me know! AxCrypt is being continuously developed with with more or less continuous delivery (we’re throttling it a bit so users aren’t always asked to update every time they start it;-). But we do one or two builds / week.
Regards,
Svante
Hello,
AxCrypt should detect and use proxies just like any other software in your computer.
We have one report where multiple network connections has caused a problem.
How is your proxy configured in Windows? Can you send a screen shot of this?
Best regards,
Svante
Hello Laurence,
The password is indeed used to encrypt your files (although indirectly, which was the case in AxCrypt 1.x also). Technically it’s used to encrypt a “session key”, a unique, per file, completely random key.
It is never stored on the server, and the connection to the server is always encrypted, so while the password in fact does travel over the Internet it does so safely.
As for sending files to other people, you’re supposed to use the much more convenient “key sharing” feature of AxCrypt 2. No need to share the password then. Just add the recipients e-mail address to the list of users who should be able to decrypt the file.
Regards,
Svante
Hello,
Tested with a large file without any problems. Probably something else, and we’ve improved error reporting in many ways the last days. Can you please try again with the most recent version of AxCrypt?
Svante
Great!
Glad to hear it all worked out for you, and thank you for helping us identifying an area of improvement. We’ve logged an issue to be fixed soon that should provide a better error message should this situation occur for someone else.
Good luck!
Regards,
Svante
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