Reply To: Feedback about AxCrypt 2.0 from an old user

[Leonard]

First, I’d like to point out some interesting statements.

1) On company’s blog, it is written: “If you change your password on our server, we’ll re-encrypt your private key there with the new password and this means that all your already encrypted files will now be decryptable with the new password!”

2) What Svante said above: “The way it’s designed you can always open the files with the password used initially to encrypt them.”

So, for example, let’s say I encrypted some files with AxCrypt. Let’s say I change my password on the server the next day. Do those files are still accessible with “the password used initially to encrypt them”? Will they be “decryptable with the new password” too?

Also further clarifying these points to prevent people from misunderstanding what I’m getting at:

“Automatic decryption” – this was always an option with AxCrypt 1.x (“Remember this key for decryption”).
Yes it was an option with its default as “NO”, but now it is non-optional and “YES”

“Need to be logged on” – this was also in essence an option with AxCrypt 1.x (“Remember this key for encryption”).
Yes, in essence, it could be counted as a similar option to one that’s in AxCrypt 1.x if only being logged on did not also enable “Automatic decryption” as well. So, unfortunately, they are not similar at all.

“The basic reason for making these non-optional defaults was because of usage errors of users causing data loss, as well as increased convenience. It’s simply more convenient not to need to enter your password all the time, and…”

I totally agree not being required to type password whenever I want to access a file is convenient for some. And both AxCrypt 1.x and 2.x have optional or non-optional features allowing that “convenience”. However, there are some “technical misunderstandings that should be corrected” here: A feature may be “convenient” by itself but changing it from optional to non-optional does not make it “more convenient”. If you want to call it “more convenient” you should leave it as an option and choose “the most convenient” option as default.