[SvanteSpectator]

Hi Rico,

Thanks for the feedback – we’ll see how the future looks. We’re considering other options for how to package AxCrypt, but for now it’s like it is. But the feedback is important, since it affects how we develop the product, so thanks!

[SvanteSpectator]

Hi Richard,

Thanks for the info. Yes, please send the logs to support@axcrypt.net .

As for V2 without the “logon”, I have a hard time really understanding the reluctance here. If you use AxCrypt in the same way for V1 and V2, i.e. double-clicking a file in Windows Explorer – you can could do this blindly without knowing if it’s V1 or V2. It’s *exactly* the same mouse-click + keystrokes! It *looks and feels* a little different, but the actual operation is identical.

Double-click, type your password, hit enter or click OK.

The V1 dialog is named “Enter Passphrase”. The V2 dialog is named “Sign In”. But the actual actual and effect is almost identical.

V2 offers more options on how to work with encrypted files, and makes it easier by default to work with multiple files (but this mode of operation exists in V1 as well, although it’s optional). But you don’t have to use the other ways to work with files in V2, you can restrict yourself to just use it just like V1.

[SvanteSpectator]

Hi Richard,

The behavior for V2 you describe above is not how it works (except possibly) for the first open on 3/19/2016 *if* the file was originally encrypted with V1. If you really see this behavior, something else is going on.

As I mentioned, the only situation where the behavior should differ is your action on 1/1/2016 – the initial encryption.

Both V1 and V2, regardless of V1 registry options, should set the time stamp to the date and time of the last modification of the encrypted file.

Since an decrypt + open without any change does not require re-encrypting the file, it should be left entirely unmodified, including the last modified time stamp.

AxCrypt 2 does *not* update the last modified time stamp separately just because a file was accessed + decrypted. At least not it should not, and I cannot reproduce the behavior you describe, nor does the code to do this even exist in the software so it’s hard to see how it happens.

I should stress that there *is* one situation where AxCrypt 2 actually does update the encrypted file, even though you as a user only decrypt and open it without the intent to modify it. This is the situation described earlier, when you open a V1-encrypted file with V2. In this case, V2 will re-encrypt the file in the background in order to update it to V2.

Also, please ensure that you are checking the last *modified* time stamp, not the last *accessed* time stamp. The last *accessed* time stamp is disabled by default by Microsoft in more recent versions of Windows, since it is very wasteful and time consuming.

[SvanteSpectator]

Hello Fritz,

The likely reason for the error message is that either the .exe is write-protected, or it requires administrator permissions to write which is likely since it’s residing the Program Files folder.

No there is no global “Encrypt all data” command, but you can select many files, or a folder, and encrypt many files in one go.

Encrypting data files like those that are “fixed’ to a given program like your tax software is usually troublesome. You need to be careful, since if you start the software without having decrypted the files first, it will get confused and may do unexpected things such as creating new empty files etc.

[SvanteSpectator]

Hi Richard,

I don’t really understand the issue about the time stamp. What you describe is exactly how AxCrypt 1 *and* 2 works by default.

The option that exists via registry in AxCrypt 1 is for the scenario that you encrypt a previously not encrypted file. Let’s say that the original plain text “file.txt” was modified on June 1, 2010. On November 23, 2016 you decide to encrypt it with AxCrypt, removing “file.txt” and creating “file-txt.axx”. In both AxCrypt 1 and 2, by default, the modification date of “file-txt.axx” will be November 23, 2016. With the option to “keep original file time stamp” of  version 1 set in the registry, “file-txt.axx” would have it’s time stamp set to June 1, 2010 – just like the original unencrypted file “file.txt”. This is behavior is no longer available in AxCrypt 2.

In both AxCrypt 1 and 2, when you decrypt “file-txt.axx” back to “file.txt”, the file will regain it’s unencrypted time stamp of  June 1, 2010.

The error message is shown because the file was encrypted with Version 2, but attempted to open with Version 1. Probably, you viewed with AxCrypt 2 after re-encrypting it – causing it once again to be auto-upgraded to version 2.

[SvanteSpectator]

Hello Richard,

Thanks for all the input  – but there was a lot of it so I might miss to respond to something.

The problem with first time opening of PDF and Edge needs investigation. Are you sure it has anything to do with Edge? We’ll look into that.

That you find decrypted files in %localappdata% is normal as long as AxCrypt is running. They should be cleaned up when you really exit them, and they should be marked as ‘open’ in the recent files view and the red ‘broom’ (clean up) icon should be lit to inform you that you have decrypted files open in AxCrypt.

The most recent version of AxCrypt 1.7 is available for download at http://www.axantum.com/ (it is more updated than the version you refer to), and we have no plans on making it unavailable.

We have no known issues with decrypting V1 files with V2. But, as an insurance, we still offer version 1 as mentioned and will continue to do so.

The file time stamp issue I believe we have discussed elsewhere – if not, let me know and I’ll copy that thread here.

[SvanteSpectator]

Hi Bernie,

First of all – to start a new topic, just scroll down to:

You write: “My main annoyance with the new Axcrypt is having to sign in every time I want to use Axcrypt.” The most frequent criticism we get about version 2 is that you normally *do not* have to enter the password every time, since we cache it for the duration of the Windows Session. We’ll be adding advanced options to control this behavior in the future, since it seems to be such a bone of contention.

You then write: “Also when I right click an Axcrypt file, the options to decrypt, copy, clear passphrase, etc, are all listed. I don’t have to open any other windows. It’s all there.”

This is no real difference in Version 2, is it, you have the right-click and the tray menu that contains these options:

and

 

[SvanteSpectator]

Hello,

The error message just means that the file was encrypted with version 2, not version 1. Version 1 is smart enough to realize this, but it cannot do more. The formats of the files produced are different, and while Version 2 supports Version 1 (i.e. it is backwards compatible), Version 1 cannot support version 2 and that’s what the message means.

As for the modification time stamp, version 2 does not support keeping the original date time stamp, since it was originally a bad idea and it breaks the promise that the time stamp provides. The encrypted file *is* a different file than the original, even if it contains the original. Thus, when you decrypt the file, the name *and* the original time stamp is restored. But the encrypted file is a different file, and should have a new time stamp. Most backup strategies will also fail if this is not done, since it may think the file was backed up, while in fact it was not (just the original plaintext).

To revert the files encrypted with Version 2, download the standalone version of AxCrypt 2, and decrypt them with that.

[SvanteSpectator]

Hi Bernie,

I’m not sure about what you mean when you write: “the popup for entering the passphrase works first time every time, even from the short cut to files to be opened”. Can you explain further, even better post a screen shot?

[SvanteSpectator]

Hello Richard,

I’d love to get a more clear report on your problems with PDF and EDGE. Can you send a screen shot of whatever error message you’re getting?

You also write that “This forum is also a little awkward…” – can you please explain that further? Are you saying you can’t create a new thread for a new subject?

[SvanteSpectator]

Hello Laurent,

There is no currently known issue with passwords not working across version 1 and version 2 of AxCrypt, so there’s something else going on here.

Please be aware that when you are migrating from AxCrypt 1 to AxCrypt 2, and you have an old account on the web with us you have have different passwords to sign in and to your files.

So, when migrating, it’s intially a two step process.

1) Sign in to AxCrypt with the *same* password you use on the web. You can verify that by signing in first to http://www.axcrypt.net/ . If you’ve forgotten that password, you can reset it on the site by clicking the “forgotten password”. This is will not reset the password to open files, just to access the account via the web or the app.

2) Once you’ve signed in to the app with this password, you may be prompted again for a file password if the file was encrypted with a different password than you use for the account above. If the file was an old version 1-encrypted file, and you successfully enter the correct password, the file will open *and* be automatically converted to use the new version-2 format *and* the new account password.

New AxCrypt 2-users never see or have this problem, nor will you after you have opened a file once. After that you just sign in to the app, and all works without having to enter the password until you sign out.

If this does not help, please let us know where you are stuck by posting a screen shot if you can, or by sending an email to support@axcrypt.net .

[SvanteSpectator]

Hello David!

Files in secured folders will not encrypt entirely automatically – but when clicking the red broom icon, or signing out of AxCrypt. So that’s unexpected.

Are you sure they are really not encrypted? Once you are signed in to AxCrypt they will open without further prompting of the password. You can tell if they are encryped, if they are displayed with the AxCrypt-icon and end with .axx.

[SvanteSpectator]

Hello Fritz,

This is not really something that we can support you with, except to note that if you’ve encrypted the .exe file for the tax program and it still can run, you’ve not encrypted the .exe file for the tax program ;-). You’ve encrypted some other .exe .

Finally, from a security point of view, encrypting a .exe of a published software will have little real security, since the original .exe is easily obtainable and the actual information is also easily extracted even without it from the files in question.

What you should to in this case is encrypt all *data* files.

[SvanteSpectator]

Hello Cliff,

Duh! Indeed! Sorry about that. It’s a bug. We’ll fix it asap. In the meantime, would you like us to manually remove your account? If so, in order to verify that you are you, I’ve sent you an email with this text to your email. Please reply to that email.

[SvanteSpectator]

Hi John,

Thanks for your feedback – even if I am the unwise developer ;-)

We *are* listening – we’re just having many conflicting requests, and as always we have too little time available to act on everything. We’ve also done quite a lot as a result of feedback here, and more will come in the future.

So, even if you do migrate to something else, you might want to come back every now and then and check us out again. We’ll be constantly developing and improving the app in the coming years.

[Author]

Posts