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                          !Crypt !Help file 
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Version: 1.0 (21 September 2005)

Author: Nat Queen <n.m.queen@birmingham.ac.uk>

Primary distribution site: http://www.queen.clara.net/pgp/acorn.html


What does it do?
================

This is a simple utility to make it easy to carry out all the essential
operations with GnuPG without the need to remember any commands. These
operations include encryption, signing, decryption and checking signatures.


How to use !Crypt
=================

This program will work only if GnuPG is already properly installed in your
computer. GnuPG is available from http://www.sbellon.de/gnupg.html. If you
are using GnuPG for the first time, please read the documents provided with
it and/or the tutorials available from my website.

To use !Crypt, double-click on its icon. A directory window for a directory
called 'scrap' will open. You can process any file with GnuPG by placing it
inside this directory and double-clicking on the !Crypt icon again.

Double-clicking on !Crypt has two possible effects. If the directory 'scrap'
is empty, !Crypt will simply open its directory window. If the directory
'scrap' contains a file to be processed, you will be presented with a choice
of operations to perform on it, each designated by a particular letter or
letters to be entered at the keyboard, followed by <Return>. Simply follow
the on-screen instructions.

For example, to encrypt a message with someone's public key and
simultaneously sign the message, you would enter the command 'E'; to encrypt
it without signing, you would enter 'N', etc. Lower-case letters work too.

When you process any file in this way, the output file will appear in the
directory 'scrap' along with the original input file.

Note that only one file at a time should be placed in the directory 'scrap'.
If more than one file is present, !Crypt will attempt to process the first
file that it finds. There is one exception: to check a detached signature,
both the signature file and the file to which it applies must be placed in
the directory 'scrap'.


Specifying recipients
=====================

A message may be encrypted simultaneously for any number of recipients.
Enter a recipient's user ID when the on-screen instructions ask for it. The
'current recipients' will then be displayed, showing details of their public
keys. These will include your own key if your copy of GnuPG is configured to
'encrypt-to-self'. You will again be asked for a user ID. If there are any
additional recipients, you may continue to enter their user IDs, one by one
in the same way. When there are no further recipients, simply continue with
a blank line by just pressing <Return>.


Encrypting for PGP users
========================

If you do not intend to encrypt anything for users of PGP, you may ignore
this section. Users of GnuPG sometimes experience problems when encrypting
messages for users of PGP. In order to avoid such problems, GnuPG has
special options to ensure maximal compatibility. You can make use of these
options as follows.

If you want to encrypt a message for a user of PGP 6, 7 or 8, you can make
the encrypted file as compatible as possible with that version by adding the
appropriate digit to the normal command. For example, to encrypt and sign a
message for a user of PGP 6, you can use the command 'E6' instead of simply
'E'; or to encrypt a message for a user of PGP 8 without signing it, you can
use the command 'N8' instead of simply 'N'.

These special options may not always be necessary, but they may help if you
experience problems when communicating with a PGP user.

Please note that these special options, as implemented in this program, are
intended for encrypting text files only. If you encrypt other types of files
with these special options, it will not be possible to decrypt the output
file.


Legal notice
============

!Crypt is freeware. The copyright is retained by the author, Nat Queen. You
may copy and distribute this software freely as long as none of the files
are altered or removed. If you distribute !Crypt in any PD library, magazine
cover disc or CD, or on any site on the internet, please drop a line about
it in my mailbox, so that I can keep you informed about possible future
updates. Any distribution method is allowed, provided that you do not make
any profit from it. This software must not be distributed as part of any
other application without my prior permission.

This software has been thoroughly tested, but no guarantee is given as to
its suitability for any purpose. The author accepts no responsibility for
any data loss, crashes or other undesired effects caused directly or
indirectly by using !Crypt.
