FreeCrypt 32 Version 1.0
Copyright (c) 1997,1998 Stephen T. Batson Jr. & Bat-Soft


Disclaimer

Use of FreeCrypt 32 is at your own risk! By using FreeCrypt 
32, you agree to hold the author and distributors harmless 
and free from any responsibility for damages including but 
not limited to, loss of data, lost wages, lost sales or any 
other problem or expense related the use of FreeCrypt 32 or 
any version of FreeCrypt.  

Description

Freecrypt 32 is a simple a 32 Bit Windows Application 
designed to work with Windows 95 and NT. 16 Bit and DOS 
versions may be released at a future date (no promises) 
Freecrypt 32 will encrypt (scramble) any file rendering it 
completely unreadable or usable. This provides security and 
privacy for those files that you want or need to control 
access to by others. A simple password is used  encrypt and 
decrypt your file.

FreeCrypt, as the name implies, is Freeware in the current 
version. I retain all rights to this software however and 
may rename and sell future versions. Use of this software in 
a commercial or governmental agency is allowed for a 30 Day 
free trial, but must be licensed from me for use beyond 30 
days. Very reasonable single copy or site and/or 
organizational blanket licenses are available.

Usage

FreeCrypt is so easy to use, it doesn't make sense to 
provide much Documentation. You simply Choose a file to be 
encrypted, enter your password and click the Encrypt/Decrypt 
button. The program is quite fast. On 486-66, I encrypted an 
8 meg file in approximately 30 seconds. The same file on a 
Pentium Pro 200, encrypted in less then 4 seconds.

How Secure?

A lot safer than a locked desk drawer. I am sure the 
Government or someone with the appropriate resources could 
crack the encrypted files with time, but the files should be 
very safe from most computer users. Without the password, 
person or program would need to run some program that could 
try different possibilities until the password was found. 
The computer or hacker would need to know what they were 
looking for in the decrypted file to know if the password 
were found as well as the techniques used to do the 
encryption. So, for the most part, keeping the password 
secret those you want out of the file is what you should 
worry about. Future versions of the product will be more 
secure if an when they become available. 

Hacker Challenge

If you or anyone you know can crack files encrypted by 
FreeCrypt, I will consider giving a free copy of the 
Registered Shareware or Commercial Version when it becomes 
available to the first person who submits all the necessary 
information and files for me to successfully duplicate the 
process. The process would need to work on any file 
encrypted with FreeCrypt and there should be no requirement 
for me to know what data is stored in the file or anything 
about the password...that gets into the spy business. Anyone 
can crack the files if they could steal passwords and/or 
other information related to the encryption of the file in 
question.

Making your encrypted files more secure with FreeCrypt

Simply encrypt the file more than once with different 
passwords each time. The more characters your password 
contains and the more times you encrypt the file, the more 
secure it will be. When decrypting you must use care to 
reverse the process. For example, if you encrypted 3 times 
using the following passwords: moon, sun, space, you 
would need to decrypt with space, sun and moon. Can 
you imagine the hacker and/or crack program trying to 
determine what encryption method was used, how big the 
password was and how many times it was encrypted? With that 
in mind, what would they look for. Some files contain text 
that a program could look for, but what if it is an image 
file? There would be no text. Also, since FreeCrypt will not 
change the file name, added security could be gained by 
renaming the file to something meaningless to a would be 
hacker. Compressing a file to a .ZIP or other compression 
format before encrypting could add even more security since 
compression tools make files unusable unless they are 
decompressed. A ZIP file that has been encrypted with 
FreeCrypt will display an error if an attempt to unzip it is 
made. This means that the file must be decrypted before it 
can be unzipped. Again, may not be totally secure, but it 
isnt going to be easy to crack by any stretch of the 
imagination.

Support

While I welcome your feedback, bug reports and commercial 
license orders. I will NOT be able to provide any other 
support including technical support for non licensed users. 
If a bug is found in the free version, I will repost on my 
web site if and when I fix it, but make no promises. 
Licensed users will get limited technical support via Email 
for 30 days from the from the time of purchase as well as 
free information on work arounds and bug fixes if and when 
they  become available via email. For private users that 
want to obtain the 30 days of limited support, I will accept 
a $5.00 registration fee. For more information on ordering, 
please email me at the address below.

Contact for Bug Reports, Bug Fixes, Future Versions and 
Ordering

support@bat-soft.com
         or
  sbatson@usa.net


Web Site:

http://www.bat-soft.com


