Random Password Generator  V2.1


By:
Timothy L. Hirtle
7/14/95

All Rights Reserved


Description:

Random Password Generator as the name implies will randomly select from a group of
numbers, lowercase letters, uppercase letters and special characters or any
combination and select passwords. The user has the ability to identify up to 2000
different passwords, using as many as 30 characters per password. This application
will randomly select passwords which have not been previously selected and sort
them in order. The user can copy selected passwords or save them all as text files.
The calculator treats upper and lowercase letters differently thereby increasing
the difficulty for unauthorized persons to crack them. This application has a total
of 82 characters to choose passwords from.


Requirements:

- Windows 3.x

- VBRUN300.DLL installed in your Windows or System directory (See Below)


Installation:

- Run Install.exe using the RUN option from the file menu of Windows Program Manager or 
double click on the Install.exe icon from the File Manager.

- Follow the directions of the install program.


Installation should have placed the following files in the identified directories:

- PassGen.exe in the install directory you specified.

- PassGen.txt in the same directory as the executable file.

- All *.VBX files in Windows\System directory.
  3dlabel.vbx
  vbpic3d.vbx
  vbpicbtn.vbx
  cmdialog.vbx
  commdlg.dll


Distribution:

- Random Password Generator is distributed as Shareware. The Author maintains all rights to the
program in its entirety. 

- Random Password Generator may be distributed freely as long as the integrity of Shareware
is maintained.

- In the tradition of Shareware, the author grants a 30 day trial period to the user to
decide whether they want to keep the program. If so, a $10 donation is required. If not,
then before the 30 days is up, you must delete the program from your system. The author
will allow previous registered users a half-price discount for each previous registered copy of
this program.


Important Notice:

Because of the file structure of Random Password Generator, users should take caution
when changing and copying files to a new directory from the original
installation directory. Some files are created using the original directory. Validated
users may lose their validation information. 



Disclaimer:

Random Password Generator has no expressed or implied warranty. The user accepts full
responsibility for this program by loading it on their computer. At no time is the
author responsible for any hardware or software malfunctions caused by this program.
Though the author knows of no such problems from this software, he is not liable if
any should occur.



Version Information:

V1.0
Initial release.



V1.1
- Added the ability to sort or unsort results.

- Made the Help menu uneditable. Previously the help menu could be
edited, though it the changes would not be saved. Now help is read-only.



V2.0
- Added uppercase letters to the program. Now when letters are requested, both upper
and lowercase letters are used in the equation. For instance the letter "r" and the
letter "R" are both treated as different choices in the calculator. Most password
programs should treat upper and lowercase letters individually. this will
increase the security of passwords with more choices on which an individual must
consider when attempting to crack them.

- Added the ability to use special symbols into the calculator. Now you may
have the calculator randomly select special characters such as !@#$%^&*()-_=+;:'<>?
this will also increase the security of passwords with more choices on which an
individual must consider when attempting to crack them. When Symbols are desired
they have approximately a 30% probability of being selected. 

- Removed much of the error checking code between the total passwords and the
total characters operator inputs. Because of the uppercase and symbol additions,
the error checking is too intensive to include into the application. These two
inputs should be intuitive without intense error checking.

- As many as 2000 passwords can now be selected when including symbols along with
the combination of letters and numbers.



v2.1
- Seperated the letter choice into 2 seperate categories; lowercase and uppercase
letters. This adds more flexibility to users who have specific preferences.

- Fixed a minor problem that would cause an error when users pressed the backspace
key in either the number of passwords or number of characters box.

- Modified the randomizer to provide equal weight to each character. Previous
versions did not provide this. For example if the user requested numbers and
letters, previous versions would use a 50/50 probability between numbers and
letters. This was not the best method since there are 26 letters and only 10
numbers. Each number theoretically had a higher probability of being selected.
This version provides equal weight to all characters.

- Added a pop-up message to identify when the application is computing. Sometimes
when large passwords are requested, especially on slower computer systems, the 
application may take a few moments to finish it's computations.



Send donations, questions and comments to:

Timothy L. Hirtle
P.O. Box 710911
San Diego, CA  92171-0911

Internet:  hirtle@nosc.mil