Alternative e-mail: <dejal@iconz.co.nz>, <dejal@netgate.co.nz>, <dejal@amug.org>
CompuServe: >INTERNET: dejal@pobox.com or 100033,2435
Dejal Userware Web pages: <http://pobox.com/~dejal/> or <http://amug.org/~dejal/>
Anonymous FTP: ftp.amug.org in the /pub/contrib/dejal directory
Snail: Dejal Userware, PO Box 33-1011, Takapuna, Auckland 1309, NEW ZEALAND
Note: check out my new Web pages, at <http://pobox.com/~dejal/>. I would like to mirror my Web pages and/or FTP archive on another site, to improve access — if you can donate some space on your server, I’d like to hear from you.
Shareware, only US$25 or $35 to also receive the next version. An AutoUpgrade option is also available for $60: see the “Registration & Support” document for more information. I can accept cash, cheques, international money orders, VISA, MasterCard, Bankcard, Diners Club and American Express, (credit cards even via e-mail), so registering or subscribing to the AutoUpgrade option is really easy! CompuServe users can also register online if they choose: search in the Shareware Registration forum (GO SWREG) for the keyword “DEJAL” or registration ID #7698.
——— Usage ———
This application will quickly and securely encrypt or decrypt any file. It is very configurable and has many features, including Apple event support, the ability to process files of an unlimited length, multiple worksets, user-controlled password limitations, default passwords, automatic encryption and/or decryption, verification of validity, the option of a standard source folder and various destination options, opening files once decrypted (via Apple events), and more.
To use QuickEncrypt, either drop any number of files — or even a folder full of files — onto the application, or start it as usual by double-clicking on the application icon. For each file, if it isn’t encrypted you will be prompted for a password to use to encrypt the data, which will be confirmed to ensure you didn’t mis-key it, since there is no way to decrypt a file if you forget the password. If the file is encrypted, you will be asked for its password, and given up to four attempts to get it right. If you prefer, you can automate the process via the worksets options, e.g. omit the confirmation, or don’t even ask for a password but use a default one instead — see the Worksets section below.
Once a valid password has been provided, the file will be quickly encrypted or decrypted, with a progress dialog reporting how things are going. You can stop at any time, if you wish.
Worksets:
The application features multiple worksets: the active workset affects how the files are processed, and may be chosen via the Worksets menu, as a quick way of reconfiguring the program to do different operations. I believe that the user should always be in control, hence the “Userware” in the name Dejal Userware — short for “user-friendly software.”
The application comes with a number of ready-made worksets, but you can also add your own, or modify or delete existing ones. When you add a workset, the options start off the same as in the active workset, so that you can add one that is very similar to an existing one, but with a few differences.
Worksets may be locked or unlocked via the Worksets menu. If a workset is locked, it cannot be deleted or modifed without first unlocking it; you might like to lock some of your worksets if you find yourself accidentally changing the wrong set occasionally.
The Worksets editing dialog features multiple “pages” of radio buttons, checkboxes, and entry fields, each page grouping certain kinds of functions. You can switch between pages simply by choosing them from a popup menu. Here follows a description of the various pages:
Workset Info page:
Here you can change the name of the current workset, the keyboard equivalent used in the Worksets menu to select this workset, and a description of, or comments about, the workset.
Password page:
Here you can control the level of password security you desire, including whether you want to specify a different password for each file (or just use the same one for all files in the batch), confirm and/or conceal the password entry, ignore the password’s case (e.g. so that “password” and “PassWORD” would be treated as equal), insist that the password contains a non-alphabetic character (a good way to make it harder to guess the password), and the minimum length the password should be (a zero value means you don’t have to enter a password at all).
Folders page:
Here you have the option of specifying a standard folder to look in when the application was opened by double-clicking on its icon, instead of dropping files on it. If you choose this option, the program will process any files it finds within that folder. You can also choose where to put the destination (output) files:
The ‘put in the same folder’ option is the most trivial to use, as it simply uses the same location as the source file, creating a new file next to the source file.
The ‘standard folder’ option allows you to put the files in one particular folder; you choose the location once, and it’s used thereafter.
The ‘prompt for destination’ option will ask for a destination each time, so you can decide on-the-fly.
Files page:
This page lets you choose which files to process: all files (files that are encrypted will be decrypted, and others will be encrypted), only files to be encrypted (files that are already encrypted will be skipped), or only files that need decrypting (files that aren’t encrypted will be skipped).
You can specify what to do when archiving files or folders and an encrypted file is encountered: either decrypt it, and leave it out of the archive, or just include it in the archive as is. In the latter case, when you decrypt the archive the old encrypted file will still be encrypted, just as it was before.
Additionally, you can specify whether or not to check for QuickEncrypt 1.0 files: that obsolete version used a very different and unreliable encryption format, which is no longer supported. If you never had QuickEncrypt 1.0, you might as well turn off this option.
Archive page:
This page contains options relating to archiving. Archives are distinct from normal encrypted files in that they can contain more than one file, and can also contain folders. You can choose to encrypt files separately, i.e. each file encrypts to a corresponding encrypted file, or encrypt folders as archives and files separately, i.e. each item dropped on the application results in a separate archive or encrypted file, or you can encrypt all files and folders into a single archive file.
You can also specify what name to use for archives: the same name as the first file or folder, with a specified suffix, or a fixed name of your choosing. Finally, you can choose whether or not to restore any hierarchy of sub-folders within archives to their original state; if this option isn’t selected, all files within the archive will be placed within the same folder.
Encryption 1 page:
This is the first of two pages controlling the encrypting process. Here you can specify the suffix to add onto the names of the output files (or leave it blank to have none). Note that unique names are always created, in the same way as the Finder does, by adding numbers to the end until a unique name is found. You can also indicate which forks to encrypt — normally you’d leave this set to encrypt both forks; there isn’t much reason to only encrypt one, but you have the choice just in case.
You can automate the encryption operation if you wish, automatically encrypting files without asking for a password; the default one specified here is used. The password won’t be shown (after entering it the first time) and can be useful if your machine is sufficiently secure, but you want to send files to other people securely. Also, if you wish to ensure that the data hasn’t been corrupted, you can choose to verify the files.
Encryption 2 page:
Here you can choose what dates to use for the encrypted file. You can use the date the original file was created or last modifed, the date the original was created and use today’s date for the modification date, or simply use today’s date for both (i.e. don’t alter the output file dates).
You can also choose what to do with the original file, if and only if the encryption process is successful. The file can be shredded (i.e. the contents zeroed out) and then deleted, so that even disk recovery utilities can’t recover the original contents (the most secure option), simply delete the file (remembering that it might be possible for someone to recover it later), move the file to the Trash, or simply leave the file alone (the least secure option).
Decryption 1 page:
This and the following page contain options applicable when decrypting files. Here you can indicate whether to use the name of the original file, or based on the encrypted file’s name — normally there won’t be any difference, but the encrypted file could have been renamed, so you have a choice of which name to use. As with the Encryption 1 page, you also have the options of automatic decryption and verification.
A rather useful feature here is the ability to open the file once it has been decrypted — in conjunction with the automation options, above, you could simply double-click on an encrypted document, have it decrypt automatically and then open up in the relevant application. For example, an encrypted file could decrypt to a SimpleText document, which is then opened and displayed by SimpleText, ready for editing. Normally, you wouldn’t want to open the contents of archives, since there may be many of them, but if you do, you have the option here (note however that it won’t open items within folders in archives).
Decryption 2 page:
This page is much the same as the Encryption 2 page, except it has an additional date option: the ability to use the encrypted file’s dates instead. It also doesn’t have the shred option, since there isn’t much point in shredding an encrypted file.
Preferences:
Also included is a Preferences dialog, which allows you to configure common features. The preferences file is only created or modified when you actually change the prefs.
Settings page:
This page lets you specify whether the first or most recently used page of the Preferences and Workset editor dialogs is displayed when you open them. Other options are:
Sort Worksets Alphabetically: If checked, the worksets will be listed in alphabetical order in the Worksets menu (from the next time you run the application), otherwise they will be listed in the order they were added. This is on by default.
Default Workset: This popup menu allows you to specify a particular workset you want to always be active when you start the application, or specify that whichever one you used most recently should be active.
Processing page:
This page allows you to control whether sub-folders are processed, or only top-level ones, and whether or not folder and file aliases are resolved; if not, they are skipped.
Also, you can choose to process files dropped on the application in the reverse order from normal; this is occasionally useful, e.g. when dropping the contents of a folder sorted by date in the Finder, to process them in chronological order instead of reverse-chronological. Sub-folders are still processed as normal.
Progress page:
Animate Icons: If checked, the icons in the progress dialog will be animated. If you have a slow machine, you might experience a small speed improvement if you uncheck this option. It is on by default.
Lock the Progress Dialog Position: This radio group controls whether the progress dialog will always appear in the same location, or the new position will be remembered for next time whenever you move it. The progress dialog position is unlocked by default (you might like to turn it on once you’ve positioned the dialog in a favourite location).
Progress Bar Pattern: Clicking this will cycle through the available patterns for the progress bar, so you can find one that you prefer.
Automation page:
Auto-Open If Nothing From the Finder: If this is checked you will be automatically prompted with the Open file dialog when you launch the application by double-clicking it’s icon (as opposed to dropping a file on it). This option is off by default.
Present Open Dialog Until Cancel: If checked, you’ll be repeatedly prompted with the Open file dialog after processing a file until you Cancel the dialog. This is off by default.
Auto-Quit When Done: If checked, the application will automatically quit after successfully processing a file or files; it won’t quit if you stop the operation, in case you wish to modify the Preferences or a workset. This is off by default.
Show Splash-Screen on Startup: if this is checked, a title dialog is displayed when the application is started. You can only uncheck this box if the application is registered, and the Registered Name matches the Owner Name in the Sharing Setup control panel. This is as a small protection from illegal copies of the application — if your Registered Name is slightly different from your Mac’s Owner Name and you want to disable the splash-screen, please contact Dejal Userware and I’ll be happy to provide you with a new code.
Notification page:
Play When Complete: This popup menu and the following one all contain a couple of standard options at the top of the menu with a list of all the available sounds (in your System or opened by Suitcase™ or similar products) below. Selecting one of these options will, in the case of this popup menu, cause that sound to be played when the encrypting process has successfully completed. The sound will not play when an error causes the process to be terminated. A system beep will be played by default for this event. These sounds are especially useful if you are converting in the background with the progress window hidden. The available options are:
- Silence: No sound will be played for this event.
- System Beep: The default system alert sound (chosen in the Sound control panel or a replacement like Riccardo Ettore’s excellent SndControl) will be played.
- A list of the currently available sounds: Choosing one of these will cause that sound to be played for this event.
Play If Error Occurs: Selecting from this popup menu one of the above options will cause that sound (or kind of sound) to be played if an error occurs, when the error alert is presented. The System Beep is the default selection.
——— What’s in a Name? ———
For your information, I used to be known as David Lambert, but am now David Sinclair, as my wife and I chose that new name for ourselves when we got married (April 1995).
——— Dejal Sound Utilities™ ———
If you’re into sounds, you may be interested in this popular bundle: SndConverter Pro™, SndConverter Lite™, SndPlayer™, and SndCataloguer™; four Shareware utilities that can be registered separately or together. You’ll find them on the Dejal Userware distribution disk and many online services, CD-ROM discs, etc.
——— Warning and Encryption Scheme ———
Warning: do not forget your passwords! Please don’t contact me asking if I can decrypt your data because you’ve forgotten your password — even I can’t decrypt files without the correct password, as the password itself is used in the encryption process for added security.
Many users have asked me what encryption scheme I use in QuickEncrypt. Firstly, let me say that I don’t use one of the schemes that is restricted to use within the US, for obvious reasons — I don’t live in the US. As for the actual scheme that I use, it is my own custom scheme, that has such features as a semi-random multiply-indexed key, dependence on the plaintext password when encrypting and decrypting, yet it doesn’t store that password anywhere in the file, only a one-way checksum; plus a number of other security measures. According to encryption theory, my scheme is provably impossible to crack for all practical purposes.
——— Compatibility and Disclaimer ———
QuickEncrypt requires at least System 7, and is 32-bit compatible. It is not yet PowerMac-native, but is PowerMac-compatible.
Note that while the encoding schemes are very secure, I do not guarantee they are unbreakable. I have tried to make the schemes as secure as I can, but given sufficient motivation, skilled low-level hackers can eventually break almost all forms of security. Use at your own risk.
The usual disclaimers apply: David Sinclair and Dejal Userware accept no responsibility for any incidental or consequential damage of any sort as a direct or indirect result of using this software. The software is provided “as-is”, and no warranties are made as to its fitness for a particular purpose or whatever. I would be very interested to hear of any problems, though. <grin>
——— Release History ———
The following is a reverse-chronology of the changes in each release of QuickEncrypt:
Release 4; QuickEncrypt 2.2, 28 April 1996:
• Fixed a serious bug where data loss could occur if you cancel encrypting to an archive when you have selected a workset with deleting or shredding of source files enabled. QE will now only trash, delete or shred after the encryption/decryption process has successfully completed. Thanks to David Corner and others for reporting this problem.
• When folders are to be deleted, the folder itself is now deleted in addition to its contents. Thanks to Hans-Ulrich Thomas for reporting this problem.
• Aliases are now not resolved when deleting, to avoid QE from deleting something you might not expect to be deleted.
• Fixed a problem where only folder contents were archived, not the folder itself.
• Fixed a problem where files wouldn’t always decrypt to the correct folder, if there was more than one folder. Thanks to Gerardo Hidalgo and Grant Symon for reporting this problem.
• Added a second default password: now you can separate the default passwords for encrypting and decrypting. Thanks to Mikael Sjostedt, Hans-Ulrich Thomas and Grant Symon for suggesting this feature.
• Prevented the Open Document feature from opening archive contents, unless you specify otherwise. Thanks to Grant Symon for suggesting this feature.
• Added grey outlines around folder names on the Folders workset page.
• Made the progress dialog persist for all the files in the batch, instead of appear and disappear for each one.
• Adjusted the progress bar to make it compatible with the recolouring from the Aaron extension.
Release 3; QuickEncrypt 2.1, 13 August 1995:
• Added archive features: now multiple files or folders of files can be archived into a single encrypted archive file. Either just folders or folders and files can be archived, and sub-folder hierarchies can be restored intact, if so desired. Files that are already encrypted may be decrypted or included in the archive.
• Added the option of processing files dropped on the app in reverse order.
• Fixed a minor problem with the keyboard equivalent feature of the workset editor dialog.
• Improved the shredding option by overwriting the file’s name before erasing it, so not even its filename can be discovered.
• Added the option of choosing whether icons are offset positioned or not.
• Improved the reliability of icon positioning.
• Added multiple pages in the Preferences dialog.
• Added the ability to control whether the prefs and worksets dialogs open to the first page, or to the last page used.
• Added the ability to choose whether or not to process sub-folders, resolve folder aliases, and resolve file aliases.
• Added notification options, including displaying an icon in the menubar and playing a specified sound, beeping, or remaining silent.
• Added special Beta release handling.
• Added a splash screen (that may be turned off in correctly registered versions).
• Updated the documentation.
Release 2; QuickEncrypt 2.0, 21 December 1994:
• Added support for multiple worksets.
• Added the ability to open folders via Apple events or the Open dialog.
• Added the registration form printing option.
• Added the choice of defaulting to the last used workset or a fixed one.
• Significantly improved the encryption format.
• Added several options to control the entry of passwords.
• Added the ability to specify a default password.
• Added the option of a default source folder.
• Added different destination options.
• Added the choice of encrypting and decrypting files, or just one or the other.
• Added support for using Temporary Items folders.
• Added optional suffixes for encrypted files.
• Added support for encrypting the resource fork.
• Added the ability to specify which fork(s) to encrypt.
• Added a choice of using the original or encrypted files name when decrypting.
• Added the option of automatically encrypting or decrypting files.
• Added verification of encryption/decryption validity.
• Added support for setting the created and modified dates of output files.
• Added options of moving files to the trash, deleting them, or shredding them.
• Added the ability to automatically open the files once decrypted, via AppleEvents.
• Plus other minor enhancements.
Release 1; QuickEncrypt 1.0, 2 January 1994:
• First public release of the software.
First started work on QuickEncrypt: June 1993; first limited release, 1.0a1: 1 July 1993.
