Best GnuPG tool for the non-technical windows user

[Graham]

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On Friday 11 Apr 2003 3:46 pm, A.Melon wrote:

> I'm interested in helping some non-technical people get up and
> running with encryption; a good thing.  Is GPA + WinPT (as read in an
> older post) still the best way to accomplish this?  Or should I get
> them using plugins (in this case for either Mozilla Mail or
> Qualcomm's Eudora)?  I want to make this as simple as possible for
> them.  Thanks for any pertinent information.

First of all, get the latest version of GPG and look and set up the=20
gpg.cof file correctly: this will sort out 85% of all problems.  I take=20
it you are using Windows, so get the version of GPG at=20
http://www.nullify.org because it seems to be compiled with a slightly=20
more Windows-friendly compiler.

Unless you're familiar with the Dos box, I'd suggest that you get a GUI=20
front end.  This will help you access the functions of GPG through a=20
graphical interface, and here you have two options; WinPT or GPGShell. =20
Although it is not open source, I would favour GPGShell as its more=20
like PGP's interface and a little more mature, and some of your users=20
might find it easier to use.  Links to both programs are on the=20
nullify.org site.

If you want an email program that is easy to use and integrates well=20
with GPG, I would go for Enigmail.  This is a Mozilla project that=20
makes Mozilla Mail integrate with GPG and has PGP/MIME capabilities. =20
However, I would not use it with Mozilla, but with Beonex Communicator,=20
which is an end-user version of Mozilla, is much easier to use, and=20
more secure.  You can get it at : http://www.beonex.com/communicator/
and you will find most Mozilla projects are compatible with it.

However Enigmail is merely an extension of the inbuilt mailer: all the=20
shortcomings of the email program are still there, and Enigmail will=20
not carry out key management for you.  That's why you ALSO require a=20
GUI front end.

Finally, join the PGP-Basics mailing list at=20
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PGP-Basics which is more Windows centric=20
and they have a number of downloadable howto documents and a wealth of=20
experienced users of GPG in Windows for you to ask even the basic=20
question.

HTH

- --=20

Graham
GPG Keys at encryption.keys@ntlworld.com


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