Contents

CryptaPix ™  1.1

Copyright © 1996-1997 Kent Briggs

Briggs Softworks

Introduction

CryptaPix™ is a general purpose graphic image viewer for Windows with support for GIF, JPG, PCX, PNG, TIF, and BMP image formats.   Images are presented full-screen with an auto advance slideshow option and the ability to play WAV sounds.  CryptaPix features a secure encryption and wipe option to prevent unauthorized access to your personal image collection.  Encrypted images include a quick thumbnail preview mode for visual image selection.  Format conversion and printing features are also available.

License

CryptaPix is copyrighted software distributed as shareware.  You are granted a temporary 30-day license to try CryptaPix to see if it will meet your needs.  If you wish to use the program past the 30-day evaluation period, you must purchase the fully-licensed, registered version from the author or an authorized dealer.  Failure to comply with the license agreement is a violation of federal and international copyright laws.  Click the Register button on CryptaPix's main page for ordering instructions.

LZW compression technology for GIF and TIFF file formats has been licensed from Unisys Corporation under U.S. Patent No. 4,558,302 and foreign counterparts.

ImageLib graphics engine licensed from SkyLine Tools.

Author Contact and Technical Support Information

Kent Briggs

109A Romana Circle

Hewitt, TX  76643

E-mail:

CompuServe: 72124,3234

Internet: kbriggs@execpc.com

World Wide Web Home Page:

http://execpc.com/~kbriggs

Download author's other shareware and freeware programs from WWW page:

Puffer - Secure data file and e-mail encryption program for Windows

One-Page Calendar - Simple calendar printing utility for Windows

File Maven 95- File Manager for Windows 95

Disclaimer

Read the accompanying manual before using CryptaPix on "live" data.  This program contains powerful encryption technology and data wiping features that can destroy data if used improperly.  This software is provided as is and without warranty.  The author assumes no liability for damages, either direct or consequential, which may result from the use of this product.

Interface

CryptaPix contains an image list on the left and four "tabbed-notebook" pages on the right.  The Main page is a title page used for program entry and exit.  Clicking the tab on the top of a page will make that page active.  Most of CryptaPix's functions are also available from the keyboard.  Press the Tab key to move to the next component on a page.  When a page's tab has the focus, you can press the left/right cursor keys to activate a different page.  Click on any of the following topics to get more information about CryptaPix's features:

Image List

Select

Files

Options


Image List

The image list holds the names of the image files that are to be displayed.  To add files to the image list, go to the Select page and select the appropriate files from your disk drive.  Files from different directories and even different disk drives can be placed in the image list at the same time.  When using CryptaPix under Windows 95, the number of files that can be placed in the list is about 32,000.  Under Windows 3.1, the list is limited to about 32,000 characters which is roughly 2000 to 2500 files, depending on the path lengths.  Below the image list is a row of command buttons.

Move Up	The Move Up button (up arrow) is used to move the currently selected file up one position in the image list.

Move Down	The Move Down button (down arrow) is used to move the currently selected file down one position in the image list.

The Move buttons allow you to arrange the images in the order that you want them to be displayed.  These buttons are disabled if no files (or more than 1 file) are selected.  Clicking a file with the mouse will select it.

Remove	The Remove button (minus sign) is used to remove selected file(s) from the image list.  To select more than one file at a time, hold the Ctrl key down while clicking each file.  To select a continuous range of files, click the first file to select it and then hold down the shift key while clicking the last file.  You can also select a range of files by clicking and dragging the mouse.

Clear	The Clear button (line through circle) is used to remove all files from the image list, regardless if any are selected or not.

Note: the Remove and Clear buttons only remove the file names from the image list.  They do not erase files from your disk drive.  See the Wipe command on the Files page for instructions on how to erase image files.

View	The View button (slide projector) is used to display the images in the list.  If no files are selected, the first image displayed will be from the top of the list.  If a file is selected, viewing will begin with the selected file.  The View Button is disabled if more than one file is selected.  You can also double-click a file to view it immediately.  How the images are displayed depends on the settings from the Options page.

When attempting to view an encrypted CPX image file, CryptaPix will prompt you for the password.  If you enter the incorrect password, the password prompt will reappear until you enter the correct one or press the Cancel button.  If the case sensitive option was used during encryption, you will have to enter the password in the same exact manner.  When attempting to load subsequent CPX files in the same viewing session, CryptaPix will attempt to use the last password entered so if you are viewing a group of files encrypted with the same password, you will only have to enter it once per viewing session.  See the Encrypt command on the Files page for instructions on creating encrypted CPX files.

Images are always displayed full-screen.  While viewing an image, you can click on it with the mouse to get a pop-up menu of commands.  Each command has a corresponding hot key.  Use the Space Bar to advance to the next image in the list.  If the Reverse option is selected, the list is traversed bottom to top.  Use the PageDown key to advance to the next image down the list, regardless if the Reverse option is set or not.  PageUp advances up the list.  Use the Delete key to remove the current file from the image list and advance to the next image.  Press CtrlW to wipe (permanently erase) the current file and advance to the next image.  Press Esc to quit viewing images and return to the main program window.

You may save the image list in a CryptaPix SlideShow (*.CSS) file.  The list can then be reloaded at any time so that you do not have to manually search for the individual files.  Use the Files page to save and load slideshow files.  You can also have CryptaPix automatically load and begin viewing a slideshow or individual image file at startup by including the file name on the command line.  If you associate the file extensions (CSS, CPX, BMP, GIF, JPG, PCX, PNG, TIF) with the CryptaPix program file (CPIX.EXE) in the Windows File Manager, you can then display those files directly by double clicking them from the File Manager.


Select

The Select page is used to add images to the image list.  Use the image type checkboxes to set the file filter.  Click the Types button to toggle all the checkbox settings on/off.  The image types supported by CryptaPix are as follows:

CPX	Proprietary CryptaPix files that contain an image, thumbnail, and optional WAV sound in an encrypted format.  The image type can be any one of the other six image types.  CPX files are automatically decrypted directly into memory (not to a disk file) and displayed when the correct password is entered.  See the Files page for information on creating CPX files.

BMP	Windows Bitmap format.  These are uncompressed so they load the fastest but they are also the largest.

GIF	CompuServe Graphics Interchange Format, pronounce as "jif".  GIF files are limited to 256 colors.

JPG	Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) format, pronounced as "jay-peg".  These files are based on a "lossy" compression algorithm well suited for photographic images but they are also are the slowest to load.

PCX	ZSoft PC Paintbrush format.  PCX files are limited to 256 colors.

PNG	Portable Network Graphics format, pronounced as "ping".  This is the newest format and was designed to replace the 8-bit GIF format without relying on patented compression algorithms.  They are second only to JPG in compression yet load faster than most other formats.  PNG files can support up to 24-bit color, also.

TIF	Tagged Image File Format (TIFF).  Common with desktop publishing programs.

Use the Drive drop-down box to change disk drives.  Use the Directory list to select the appropriate directory.  All files that match the Image Type in the current directory will be displayed in the Files list.

To add files to the image list, select the ones you want and click the single-arrow (top) button.  You can select several files at once by holding the Ctrl key down before clicking on them in the file list.  To select a continuous range of files, click the first file to select it and then hold down the shift key while clicking the last file.  You can also select a range of files by clicking and dragging the mouse.

To add all the files in the current directory to the image list (regardless if any are selected or not), click the double-arrow (middle) button.  Clicking the triple-arrow (bottom) button will add all files from the current directory as well as all of its subdirectories.  If the current directory is the root directory, then all the matching files on the entire drive will be added to the image list.

Quick-View	When you are browsing through your directories, you may quickly view an image file by double clicking (or pressing Enter) on it in the raw file list.  This way, the image is loaded and displayed immediately without being placed in the image list.


Files

The Files page contains command buttons to perform various operations on the files displayed in the image list.

Open SS	The Open SS command will load a previously saved slideshow into the image list.  The list will be cleared of any existing files before the new list is loaded.  You can have CryptaPix automatically load and begin viewing a slideshow file at startup by including the slideshow file name on the command line.  If you associate the CSS file extension with the CryptaPix program file (CPIX.EXE) in the Windows File Manager, you can then display a slideshow file directly by double clicking it from the File Manager.

Save SS	The Save SS command will save the current image list in a CryptaPix slideshow file.  Only the names of the files are saved, not the images themselves.  CryptaPix will prompt you for a file name.  An extension of .CSS will be added by default.  You will also asked if you want to save the current viewing options in the slideshow file.  If options are saved, they will be reset each time the slideshow show file is opened.

Encrypt	The Encrypt command will encrypt the selected files in the image list.  CryptaPix uses very strong encryption algorithms, designed by recognized experts in the field of cryptography.  See the user manual for more information.

CryptaPix will take the original image and create an 80x60x16 gray scale thumbnail image.  An optional WAV sound can be added and all three components are encrypted and saved in a file with a .CPX extension.  The first part of the filename will have the same name as the original image and will be saved in the same directory.  If the option to use a WAV sound is selected, CryptaPix will look for a .WAV file with the same name as the image file.  For example, if the image list contains a file called c:\files\house.gif then the ciphertext (the encrypted output) file will be called c:\files\house.cpx and if the WAV option was selected, CryptaPix will look for c:\files\house.wav and add it if available.

If you have images on a read-only drive (such as a CD-ROM), you will have to copy the image files to your hard drive before encrypting.

Before encrypting, CryptaPix will display a dialog box where you will select an encryption algorithm and enter a password.  The encryption algorithms are 40-bit PC1 (casual strength), 80-bit PC1 (medium strength), and 160-bit Blowfish (maximum strength).  Due to U.S. export restrictions, only registered users who reside in the U.S. or Canada will have access to the 80-bit and 160-bit algorithms.

There are three password options.  The "Case sensitive" option will force you to enter the password in the exact same way during decryption as was used during encryption.  For example, if a password of "AbcdEfgh" is used with the case sensitive option on, passwords of "abcdefgh" or "ABCDefgh", etc. will fail during decryption because the case of each letter did not match.  The "8 char minimum" option will force you to enter a password of at least eight characters.  Your password (or pass phrase) can be up to 50 characters long and contain any character available from the keyboard.

WARNING: a poorly chosen password can negate all the security features built into CryptaPix.  See the user manual for instructions on how to select a secure password.

When the "Echo asterisks" option is on, asterisks will be displayed in the password boxes while you are typing in your password.  You must also enter your password in the Confirm box.

When the "Use WAV sound" option is checked, CryptaPix will look for a corresponding WAV file during encryption as described above.

When the "Wipe source files" option is checked, the original image file and corresponding WAV file (if used) will be wiped and erased after encryption.  Otherwise, the original files will remain intact.

WARNING: Do not forget your password!  There is no way to view or decrypt a CPX file without the original password.  There are no back doors, trap doors, or escape hatches in CryptaPix!

Decrypt	The Decrypt command will convert the selected CPX files in the image list back to their original format.  If a WAV file was saved in the CPX file, it will be decrypted and restored also.  Of course, you have to know what password was used.  Remember, you do not need to decrypt a CPX image back to its original format in order to view it.  CryptaPix will automatically prompt you for a password when you try to view CPX files and will decrypt them directly into memory.

Convert	The Convert command will convert the selected files in the image list to any of the supported image types (BMP, GIF, JPG, PCX, PNG, TIF).  Encrypted CPX files must be decrypted before they can be converted.  A dialog box will appear allowing you to set the output options.  When the colors are set to "source", CryptaPix will maintain the original file's color resolution.

JPG files are not affected by the color option.  They are always saved with 16 million colors (or 256 shades of gray if the gray scale option is checked).  You can adjust quality (0..100) and smoothing (0..100) factors with JPGs.  The higher the quality, the larger the file.  The default quality is 75, the default smoothing is 0.

You can specify the compression method when creating TIF files.  You can specify an interlaced output with PNG files.  Interlacing may increase file size and slow load time so it is not recommended unless you have an application that needs interlaced files.  GIF and PCX files do not support more than 256 colors.

The original files will remain on your disk drive.  The new files will have the same name as the original except the file extension will reflect the new format.  You will be prompted to overwrite any existing files.

Wipe	The Wipe command will wipe and erase the selected files in the image list from your disk drive.  USE THIS COMMAND WITH EXTREME CAUTION!!  You can never recover a wiped file.  The original contents are overwritten with a random stream pass.  The file is then truncated to zero bytes, renamed to CPIX$$$$.TMP, and then erased.  This prevents someone from using an unerase utility to recover the original files.  A confirmation prompt will appear before the command is executed.

Select all	The Select All command will select (highlight) all the files in the image list.  You can click this button when you want the Encrypt, Decrypt, Convert, or Wipe commands to be used on all files in the image list.  Normally, clicking in the list will select one file and unselect all the other files.  If you need to toggle the selection of a file without affecting the others, hold down the Ctrl key before clicking the file.

Sort list	The Sort List command allows you to arrange the files in the image list by full path, file name, file extension, file size, or file date.  You can also specify ascending (low to high) or descending (high to low) order.  New files are always appended to the end of the list so you may need to resort the list after adding to it.

Rename	The Rename command is used to rename the selected file.  You must keep the same file extension.

Print	The Print command will print the currently selected file from the image list.  This button is disabled when no files (or more than one) are selected.  A dialog box will be displayed allowing you to set the image dimensions and placement on the page.  A visual representation of the image and the paper is displayed on the right.  The "Hold aspect ratio" option ensures that the printed width to height ratio is the same as the original image and not stretched in one direction or another.  The Left and Top dimensions do not account for built-in margins that some printers may have.  Click the setup button to change the current printer, paper size, or orientation.

Info	The Info command will display format information on the currently selected file from the image list.  This button is disabled when no files (or more than one) are selected.


Options

The Options page is used to set viewing options that tell CryptaPix how to handle images when they are displayed.

Thumbnails	This option only works with CPX files (see the Encrypt function on the Files page) and will display the thumbnail images for all the files in the image list when the View button is clicked.  Thumbnails are small representations of the original image.  CryptaPix thumbnails are 80x60x16 gray scale bitmaps that are created during the encryption process.  They are designed to be loaded quickly so that you can select images visually instead of relying only on the file name.

Thumbnails are encrypted inside the CPX file so CryptaPix will prompt you for a password before the first thumbnail is loaded.  CryptaPix always attempts to use the last password entered when loading a new thumbnail or full image.  Therefore, when all files in the image list are encrypted with the same password, it only has to be entered once per viewing session.

The number of thumbnails that can be displayed at once depends on the video resolution you are using.  For example, at 1024x768 resolution, CryptaPix can display up to 132 thumbnails at once.  When you have more files in the image list than will fit on the screen at once, you can press the PageDown and PageUp keys or click the arrow buttons during the thumbnail preview to load the next (or previous) page of thumbnails.

When you move the mouse cursor over a thumbnail image, the name of the corresponding CPX file is displayed on the status line.  Click on the thumbnail to display the full image.  Pressing Esc while the full image is displayed will return you to the thumbnail preview page.  Pressing Esc (or clicking the cancel button) during the thumbnail preview will return you to the main program window.

WAV sounds	When this option is checked, CryptaPix will attempt to play the corresponding WAV sound when the full image is displayed.  When encrypted CPX images are viewed, CryptaPix will play the sound stored inside the CPX file (if any).  When any of the other image types are displayed, CryptaPix looks for a standalone WAV file that has the same name as the image.  For example, if you are viewing an image called c:\files\house.gif, CryptaPix will look for c:\files\house.wav and play it if found.  Of course, you must have a system that can play WAV sounds.  This usually requires a sound card and external speakers.

Auto advance	When this feature is disabled, you must press the space bar when viewing an image to load the next image in the image list.  When Auto Advance is enabled, the next image is loaded automatically.  The amount of time that CryptaPix waits before loading the next image is determined by the value in the Delay box.

Reverse	When Reverse is checked, images are displayed in reverse order, advancing up the list instead of down the list.

Loop	When Loop is checked, the image list is viewed in a continuous loop until the Esc key is pressed.

Shrink to fit	The shrink to fit option will ensure that the entire image can be seen on the screen at once no matter how big it is or what video resolution you are using.  When this option is disabled and an image is too big to fit on the screen, it will be displayed in a scroll box.

Show file name	This option will place the image file name above the image when it is viewed.

Show file no.	This option will place the image number above the image when it is viewed.  For example, "(1 of 10)" is displayed when there are 10 files in the image list and you are currently viewing the first one.

Show status line	This option will place a status line at the bottom of the screen that will show a progress meter while an image is being loaded.

Use dithering	This option will normally give you a better image quality when viewing images that have more colors than your system can normally display.

Video mode	This tells CryptaPix how many colors your system can handle.  Normally, you should leave this setting at "Auto detect".

Delay	This is the number of seconds to pause between images when the "Auto advance" option is being used.

Background	This is the background color used when CryptaPix is displaying images.

Start in last dir	CryptaPix will save the name of the current directory when you exit.  The next time the program is started, that directory will be loaded if this option is turned on.  Otherwise, the working directory as specified with the icon's properties will be loaded.  When making a change to this option, you must also turn on the "Save Options" feature, otherwise the change is ignored.

Save options	When this option is checked, the viewing options are saved in a CPIX.INI file in your Windows directory when you exit CryptaPix.  Each time CryptaPix is started, it loads the current settings from the CPIX.INI file.