There is no known method to recover the password other than by guessing, which could take a very long time. The longer the password, the longer it would take to guess it. SlavaSoft cannot provide help in finding lost passwords.

SlavaSoft recommends to use a Password File.

Remember. Passwords are case-sensitive and accept only ANSI characters.

The encryption engine used by PrivyPad allows you to apply up to 100 encryption steps to your sensitive data. At each step the data is encrypted with one of the following well-known encryption/decryption algorithms: BLOWFISH, XOR, 3DES or RIJNDAEL. This makes virtually impossible to decrypt your data in any other way than by providing the password it was encrypted with.

This means that PrivyPad is very secure if the password given to the file is well thought-out and hard to guess.

Before every release PrivyPad is thoroughly tested. Besides manual testing, PrivyPad has to pass a stress test, which is used on over 65000 randomly created files. All of the files used for the stress test were created before the first release of PrivyPad and they represent files with random sizes, random data, random encrypting options and random passwords. Such testing ensures PrivyPad to be very reliable and to be backward compatible with all of its versions.

Yes, you can. All versions of PrivyPad are backward compatible.

Suppose the encrypted message shown below is the message you have received.

=====
GwuU83/OKTUrIkVspAmkEtcziFcf eiD4zK5kRHdonm07Sg3AWJCXiWn+i MWGloMHHxvgNy
h6ukrjWiurdwsUrtDpA860X+Lcv qQaOjJnfjK4tufjN2XK+DrHXs Q0UmfK9avbw6J9Gtot
BVKHvN1i+bc+3cFkosYN5s6d63a8aF CV7poZIYCCY/YdVbE1eyn VScAdZjfw2qNxbiI2UX
9fvWPyx2uiN0wJnPI4h6GC79zdv sqQyx0Ta4VHmLY9Pj7Qlb0IFV7M fysMBLgwSC7HoQj4
xmSoFDQu3HWKJhkomljDHQeKe3Ow V4hIj/CjqXBngzjXM3MK8L3sjx rHJJXu9Tec8a0OJS
aX/sHrbyB5JcT3uGs+5rWuP PQd+g77gXkF1xT53OYAywEK0awD zIFKqaUaM47p3yDZdxEz
WtZrTxc5+0W8G5cQ6ZRVZB 3v20dgdj3ei+dlowx+id11K9IUc vBv47/yqhDoMqT4+t/F8e
AYQN7XWZU+u7wjwSHHwU7iAv4ql8 MrZ8dugrZxCpv3cYARGEeHDhbUNOsQ gBA0zGkCsNQI
xHsUNuY/AY8eEKk6wXNvjOt7QGs AKXx6Q+Y+UbMGpvDl7XtSwg8Wxcz XQwmnYbUkd7/zZc
JM9HknoZg9DebX2ddCZbminxOm LUoa+Rr0PFAnYWI5sno9+vJJAC/ wX/ZOu5W+U5lgg10m
KZZDYb/bu3Y4i9vj9X6fa d1Lb78zS5OPWIdhMQL6AhJYe37ojj ECNoqiOUtlmBija0Yof5
Dw19n6ZGdE19KBV681GaaY4RPNGYpl Wwu20GGVPE/7RbHcOjj8e3 IAnXjJfRk7TQOrUkqC
uiWEEanmLqAWY/X+gWBjq0wTAiok6 BQ/7uCWacKZYrY/JyFfPgxwFibd PwIaYWBBNfjZ9L
vgMjqBeAxum4yaxJHHhdllOL U030Pj73yNYV3pX9QciG2h5ZGi+ rHvMSzEa0GPtrvJKZyN
WIJYr9Ibb79bPZReLfOwgph4tN zishuNNx4WP93B36WwxrI3eLzEv YC59Q1VuRXnsrD1G9
3ZWOhHFL9faWs6P7bMarR4s3t ArBbvZqq/XkhCnhryaKX e/JjhaD5nLxsq/F2E7Lfe/cd0
vOARIcVOBFFzRmrXup+LMyaE rcwnDn26HZHczcOyRKl1q8vjv noZ+71Osb7f0QjOAHIyV3
T4YwGttvswvtlNQhOIlshrB L8KAmE3cE4lBInI5N+U8xt/Cr4gEYU eDwmMKTq2V8pw4tRB
zJqKYlzXh2AdTPRXorcz cCkJoPtmLGbO2ErWTHsF Vwv8qzIMeBHLEJAFtj/iIYLCen z3s
AjsRfrNgzwD69+vw+8vQXi3bo0Sy xOLM3rOcTA+g2nceTNBiuXD2PdK sdhGWaRM
=====

In order to read the encrypted message do the following:

• Run PrivyPad. If you don't have it yet, you can download it now.

• Select the encrypted message and copy it on clipboard (Ctrl+C).

• Paste the content of the clipboard on PrivyPad's window (Ctrl+V).

• When asked for password enter the password used to encrypt the message. The sender must provide you this password, otherwise you will not be able to read it. (For the above message the password is PrivyPad.)

Yes, you can. PrivyPad encodes the result of encryption into BASE64 text format so you can insert it anywhere a string of text can be inserted.

To perform this do the following:

• Write the message you want to encrypt in PrivyPad's window.

• Make sure the text file you are working with is secured (set a password if it hasn't been set yet).

• Select your message and perform a secure cut or copy (Ctrl + Shift + X or Ctrl +Shift + C , respectively).

• Paste the content of the clipboard in the place you want to insert your encrypted message (Ctrl + V).

The idea of a Password File was introduced in PrivyPad Version 2.0.

A Password File is a text file that is used to store the passwords for the encrypted text files created with PrivyPad. The passwords in the Password File have a specific format which makes PrivyPad recognize them. Along with passwords, a Password File can contain any other information related to  or not related to the stored passwords.

A Password File may or may not be encrypted. However, for security reasons, SlavaSoft recommends to keep the Password File encrypted and in the explanation that follows we assume that the Password File is encrypted.

You can use a Password File to automatically open an encrypted text file without entering the password it was encrypted with, just indicating the location of the Password File and its password. If you choose to use the Password File then you only have to remember the password for the Password File. All the other passwords will be kept safely inside the Password File and you will not have to remember them.

You can also set the Password File as the Master File for your computer. In this case the location of the Password File will be stored on your computer and you will not have to indicate it when opening an encrypted text file. Every time when running PrivyPad on your computer, you will be asked to enter the password for the Master File. To avoid this, you can select the option to store the Master File password image on your computer and the encrypted text files will be opened automatically. From the user's point of view it will be no difference between opening a plain text file and an encrypted one.

More information about Password Files, their format and their usage can be found in the PrivyPad help files.