Forums Community Unhappy with version 2 Reply To: Unhappy with version 2

#4472 Reply

Svante
Spectator

Hello Curt,

Thank you for your feedback, harsh as it is. Also, it’s a bit incorrect in the part about hardened environments.

As always it’s a tradeoff between various goals. In theory, as you say, if you could have unique, 256-bit, strong passwords for each and every file and keep them in your head and nowhere else, yes, that’s better!

But we’re all humans, and AxCrypt is not about theoretical but practical useful security. In this context we’re really convinced that one strong password for all your AxCrypt-encrypted files is way better than many not-so-strong passwords, or avoiding to encrypt some files because it’s so inconvenient to open them. Also, the flip side of encryption-based security is about not losing your data because you forgot one of your passwords to your files. This is not a theoretical scenario. It happens all the time with AxCrypt 1, not so much with AxCrypt 2.

So, you say, but I’ll keep all my AxCrypt file passwords in an encrypted file with a really strong password, or a password manager. Well, I say, that’s just my point… That’s our argument, but one step removed. Don’t get me wrong, I like password managers, they are great! Which is precisely why one good password for AxCrypt-encrypted files makes sense to us.

I think it’s important to correct statements that are incorrect, in this case that we require you to sign in with a registered email address that won’t work in a “hardened” environment. AxCrypt 2 will use an Internet connection if available, but you can install and use AxCrypt without any Internet connection at all. You can also turn it off at any time, by using the option File | Options | Always Offline .

Sorry to see you go as a user, but I think you’re actually missing out on a really useful and good upgrade to something better!

Finally, you’re of course welcome to recommend or advise against any and all software, but do remember that I’m the same person who wrote AxCrypt 1 as well as AxCrypt 2 – and I’ve not become less of knowledgeable about file encryption in the past 15 years. I recommend AxCrypt 2 over AxCrypt 1, because the risk of data loss is lower, and the security provided is equal to or higher than AxCrypt 1.