/[winpt]/trunk/Doc/winpt.texi

Diff of /trunk/Doc/winpt.texi

Parent Directory | Revision Log | View Patch Patch

-revision 226 by twoaday,
Mon Jun 12 13:40:21 2006 UTC
+revision 246 by twoaday,
Tue Jul 11 08:55:57 2006 UTC
 Line 8 
 This file is free under the terms of the
  Copyright (C) 2006 Timo Schulz
- Version 0.0.0
+ Version 0.2.0
  @settitle WinPT - The Windows Privacy Tray; a free GPG front-end for Windows
 Line 22 
 step manually.
  You need at least Windows 98/2K/XP, but Windows XP or better is
  recommend. The program also works on NT/95/ME but there is no support
- for these OS versions any longer.
+ for these OS versions any longer. Mainly because the OS vendor also
+ dropped support and no bug fixes will be provided any longer.
  @section A short Introduction
  WinPT is a graphical GnuPG front-end which resides in the task bar.
  It is divided into several, so-called, managers. There is a manager
  for the keyring, for files and for smart cards. The aim of the program
- is to secure email communication and to perform file encryption.
+ is to secure email communication and to perform file encryption and
+ to allow an easy and user friendly way for key management.
  @subsection What is GnuPG
  GnuPG is a tool for secure communication and data storage.
-Line 69 
 recommend to sign keys without doing thi
+Line 71 
 recommend to sign keys without doing thi
  The fingerprint of the key is hexadecial (160-bit) sequence divided
  into 10 groups of 4 hex digits. You can get the fingerprint of a key
  by opening the key property dialog. There you can mark the fingerprint
- and copy it to the clipboard.
+ and copy it to the clipboard. The fingerprint of a key can be compared
+ to human fingerprints, it is unique for each key.
  Example: 1D75 8108 5BC9 D9FB E78B  2078 ED46 81C9 BF3D F9B4
+ It is a good idea to publish your fingerprint wherever possible.
+ For example via a business card or your website.
  @section Installation of the Program
  It is always recommend to use the latest version of the program. You
  can download it from http://wald.intevation.org/projects/winpt.
  Download the zip file with the binaries inside and unpack them in
  a folder. All files need to be in the same folder, so if you change
- the folder don't forget to move all files.
+ the folder do not forget to move all files.
  You should also download and verify the signature of the packet to
  make sure that the release is really authentic.
-Line 139 
 the latter case, a folder needs to be ch
+Line 145 
 the latter case, a folder needs to be ch
  @section The First Start
  This section is only important for people who never installed
- and/or used WinPT before.
+ and/or used WinPT before and thus no keyrings are available.
  When the program is started the first time, it offers two choices.
  The one is to generate a key pair and the other is to copy
-Line 149 
 We assume the user will select the first
+Line 155 
 We assume the user will select the first
  Now a new dialog is shown which requests some information from
  the user to allow a meaningful association between the key and
  the user. If the user prefer RSA keys, the check box should be marked.
+ But this is a decision of personal taste and does not influence the security
+ or anything else.
  If the entered data is OK, WinPT then generates a new key pair. As long
  as this step takes, a progress dialog is shown to indicate the
  enduring process. When the generation of the keypair is done, WinPT
-Line 159 
 or lost, there is no way to recover the
+Line 167 
 or lost, there is no way to recover the
  why it is also important to store the backup, at least of the
  secret keyring, at a @strong{safe} place.
+ @section The Passphrase for the Secret Key
+ First a short explaination what passphrase is. A passphrase is like
+ a password but usually longer, maybe a sentence, which can consists of
+ any 7-bit ASCII characters. It is used to protect your secret key
+ and thus it is very import to chose a secure passphrase. If your
+ computer, and thus the secret key, were stolen and an attacker can
+ guess your passphrase he is able to decrypt all your data and to
+ create signatures in your name! A good passphrase is difficult
+ to guess but easy to remember and should be at least 10 characters long.
+ An easy way to generate a strong passphrase is to use a sentence only
+ you know but you can easily remind and then take the first letter of
+ each word, plus some special characters and maybe even some intentionally
+ made spelling mistakes.
+ Example: Row - row - row your boat, gently down the stream
+ Passphrase: R-r-ryb,gdt
+ Never write down or passphrase or share it among other people!
  @section Keyserver Access
  An easy way to retrieve keys is the keyserver. You can think of
-Line 259 
 The output should contain a header and a
+Line 286 
 The output should contain a header and a
  "BEGIN PGP MESSAGE" and "END PGP MESSAGE.
  @subsection Decrypt/Verify Data from the Clipboard
+ The most common case is propably that you got a signed email and
+ now you want to verify it. For this procedure, you have to copy
+ the entire signature in the clipboard. The easiest way is to
+ use CTRL+A and CTRL+C, then all available text will be copied.
+ WinPT (GnuPG) is smart enough to figure out the signature related
+ data. Now go to the taskbar, display the popup menu and select
+ Clipboard->Decrypt/Verify. Now a new dialog, the verify dialog,
+ should be available on screen with all information about the
+ signature. For example who is the signer, when was it signed
+ how much do you try this key and what was signed and most
+ important, the status of it (is the signature good or BAD).
+ A special case is when you don't have the public key to verify
+ the signature, if this happens WinPT offers to download the key
+ from the default keyserver. If the key was not found, the procedure
+ is aborted because without the key the sig cannot bed checked.
  @subsection Sign the Clipboard
+ We assume that text that shall be signed is already in the
+ clipboard. If not, select the text you want to sign and copy
+ with via CTRL+C in the clipboard. Now go to the taskbar and
+ open the peopup menu, Clipboard->Sign. If you just have one
+ secret key, the passphrase dialog will be automatically shown.
+ All you need is to enter your passphrase and confirm. In case
+ of more available secret keys, a list with all keys is shown
+ and you can select which key shall be used for signing.
+ The output is always a cleartext signature which is in text
+ format. Do not try to sign binary clipboard data, the result
+ would be unpredictable and not readable by human beings.
+ @section The Current Window Support
+ Compared to the clipboard mode, the CWS mode has some advantages.
+ Let us assume that you want to extract text from an editor window.
+ With the CWS mode, the program automatically tries to focus the
+ window to select the text and to copy it to the clipboard and
+ execute the selected command (Sign, Encrypt, Decrypt).
+ No manual user interaction is needed. Except this different behaviour,
+ it is very likewise to the clipboard mode and thus we do not describe
+ each command again.
  @section The Key Manager
-Line 313 
 step directly after key generation, ther
+Line 376 
 step directly after key generation, ther
  default values. Just select a file name and enter the passphrase.
  The program issues a warning which should be read carefully.
- @subsection Adding a new secondary key
+ @subsection Adding a new Secondary Key
  For most users the existing keys in the key pair are enough
  and no extra key is needed. But there are some exceptions.
-Line 337 
 of taste. RSA and ElGamal are both capab
+Line 400 
 of taste. RSA and ElGamal are both capab
  users it's a good idea to let the program chose the key size (in bits).
  The default settings should be secure enough for most purposes.
- @subsection Adding a new user ID
+ @subsection Adding a new User ID
  If you got a new email account, it's propably a good idea to
  add these new account to your key also. For example:
-Line 353 
 comment: (optional)
+Line 416 
 comment: (optional)
  Now email programs are able to associate this address with your
  key when somebody wants to send you a protected mail to this account.
- @subsection Adding a photographic ID
+ @subsection Adding a new Photographic ID
  With this function you can add a photo to your public. It will be
  displayed in the key property dialog.
-Line 362 
 enter your passphrase and confirm with O
+Line 425 
 enter your passphrase and confirm with O
  in the dialog carefully to make sure the photo has a proper size
  (file, height and weight).
- @subsection Adding a new designated revoker
+ @subsection Adding a new Designated Revoker
  If you want to allow another key to revoke your own key, this
  might be useful if you lost your secret or a simliar situation,
  you can use this function to add a designated revoker to your key.
-Line 396 
 If the key is stored as an attachment, o
+Line 459 
 If the key is stored as an attachment, o
  a key from a file in general, just drag the file and drop it
  into the Key Manager window or use "Key" -> "Import...".
+ @subsection Sign a Public Key
+ If you verified that a key really belongs to its owner, you
+ should sign the key to integrate it into your Web of Trust
+ and also to mark the key as valid in your keyring. Do not sign
+ a key you just got via email with the request to sign it. Anybody
+ can create a key with your (or better ANY) name, these information
+ are no hint to whom the key really belongs. You can check a key
+ by meeting or calling the key owner and verify the key fingerprint
+ of the key with the one published by the key owner. Additional checks
+ should be to watch at his driver license or the identity card to make
+ sure that name of the key matches the name of the key owner. After
+ this procedure is done, you can open the Key Manager, select the
+ right key and either use the context menu "Sign Key" or use the
+ toolbar button.
+ The next dialog will summarize the key information and some
+ additional options. For example if the signature should be
+ local or exportable. Local means the signature will be stripped
+ if you export the key and no one else except you can use it to
+ calculate the validity. If you mark the signature exportable,
+ any other user can see and use it. Now you can select the key
+ you want to use to sign and enter the passphrase. Confirm with "OK"
+ and the key will be signed. Now the validity of the new key is
+ "Full". It is propably a good idea to set the ownertrust of the
+ key. For a detailled description, see the chapter "Key Ownertrust".
+ @subsection Key Ownertrust
+ First we should explain what the ownertrust of a key is. The ownertrust
+ is a measurement how much you trust somebody to certify and check keys
+ of other people. For example, if you know that Bob is really the owner
+ of the key, you should sign it. But he is also known to sign other keys
+ without checking the idenity of the other key owner. Values for the
+ ownertrust are 1) Don't Know 2) Don't Trust 3) Marginal 4) Full
+ and thus you should propably use an ownertrust value like "Marginal".
+ But this is a personal decision and stored in a separate file and
+ never exported with the public keys. For further information, please
+ take a look into the GNU Privacy Handbook.
+ Just a last work on Key Pairs, they are automatically marked as
+ "Ultimate" because the key belongs to you and you trust it implicit.
+ @section The File Manager
+ @subsection Introduction
+ The File Manager is no replacement for an Explorer Extension.
+ If you secure your files frequently and you want to do this
+ fast and easy, I suggest to install GPGee. It is a program
+ which integrates itself into the explorer and provide menu
+ entries in the context menu of files and directory. But the
+ File Manager can be very useful if you just want to decrypt
+ and/or encrypt some files without additional programs. You
+ can find the File Manager via the symbol in the taskbar,
+ right click and then "File Manager".
+ @subsection An Overview of the GUI
+ First there are different ways to add (open) files in the
+ Key Manager. The easiest way is to use drag and drop to
+ add files into the File Manager. Just drag a file from the
+ explorer and drop it into the File Manager window. The second
+ way is to use File->Open. A dialog opens which is common for
+ all "File Open" operations in most Windows application. Now
+ you can select one or more files and confirm. The files will
+ be automatically added to the File Manager window. The main
+ window consists of a listview with three rows.
+ The first row is the status of the file. It can be "ENCRYPTED",
+ "SIGNED", "PUBKEY", "SECKEY", "SIG" or "UNKNOWN". Dependent on
+ the file status, the File Manager offers different choices. For example
+ "SIG" enables the verify options in the (popup) menu. "UNKNOWN" is
+ the default for all plaintext files.
+ The second row is the file name. And the last row is the status of
+ the operation. It can be either "", "SUCCESS" or "FAILED". An empty status
+ means no operation was started yet. FAILED indicates that the
+ GnuPG operation failed. In this case an error message was issued before.
+ Now it follows an example:
+ We assume that user wants to encrypt "c:\My Ideas\GPG GUI.txt".
+ Drag the file from the Explorer and drop it into the open File
+ Manager, the main window. The file will be added and recognized
+ as "UNKNOWN". Now we select the file and right click, a popup
+ menu is shown and we select "Encrypt". An new dialog is opened
+ which looks similar to the Clipboard Encryption dialog. Just
+ select the recipients and confirm. In contrast to clipboard encryption,
+ file encryption offers some more extra options. They are described
+ later. And hour glass will be shown as long as GnuPG takes to encrypt
+ the file. When the procedure is done, the third row should be change
+ to "SUCCESS" and the first row to "ENCRYPTED".
+ @subsection General Options
+ Now we describe the general options which are possible in some
+ File Manager dialogs.
+ @itemize
+ @item Text Output
+ When this option is checked, the output will be encoded in ASCII armor.
+ This can be useful if the file should be transfered via email. The
+ size of the output file is larger than the usual binary output.
+ @item Wipe Original
+ If this option is checked, the original file will be deleted after
+ successfull encryption. This can be useful if data should not be
+ available in plaintext any longer on a machine.
+ @end itemize
  @bye

 Legend:



Removed from v.226
 


changed lines


 
Added in v.246
 Legend:



Removed from v.226
 


changed lines


 
Added in v.246
-Removed from v.226
+Added in v.246

[email protected]	ViewVC Help
Powered by ViewVC 1.1.26