Random Password Generator-PRO  V7.0


By:
Timothy L. Hirtle
4/29/98

All Rights Reserved


Description:
============

Simply the most secure method for creating passwords. Voted by Windows
Magazine as "Superior Shareware" (Aug 1995).  Random Password Generator-PRO
as the name implies will randomly select from a group of numbers,
lowercase letters, uppercase letters and special characters or any
combination and select passwords. The user has the ability to identify up
to 1,000,000 (yes, that's 1,000,000) different passwords, using as many
as 60 characters each. This application may be set to randomly select
passwords which have not been previously selected (if desired) and sort
them in order. The user can copy selected passwords or save them all as
text files. Text files may be converted to Microsoft Access® database
files instantly and these database files can be viewed and edited without
requiring MS-Access® software. The Generator uses numbers, upper and
lowercase letters, and special keyboard characters. You can select any
combination of these choices to generate passwords. A total of 94
characters are available for the randomizer to select from. You have the
ability to identify exactly which characters to activate for the random
selection process. Users may also apply rules which will not select
the same character (i.e. HH, etc..) back to back and/or will not select
sequential characters (i.e. 123, etc..) back to back. Users can now
create multiple password files from one simple setup mode.


Requirements:
=============

- Microsoft Windows 95/98 or Windows NT 4+ (32-bit)

- vb5rtsp3.zip

  The vb5rtsp3.zip contains a self-installing exe file vb5rtsp3.exe.  Double
  clicking on this file will install or update the following dll's in your
  c:\windows\system.

  Asycfilt.dll *
  Comcat.dll *
  Ctl3d.dll
  Msvbvm50.dll *
  Oleaut32.dll *
  Olepro32.dll *
  Comdlg32.ocx *
  Stdole2.tlb *
  * = Files needed to run Random Password Generator - PRO

  These are the latest Visual Basic Runtime files available from Microsoft at
  this time (2/21/98) and are known as the SP3 versions.

  It may be that you already have these updated files on your system since 1000s
  of software programs require them. If so, you do not need to install them again.

  If you should happen to have a newer version that one of the files in this
  collection, the installation will prompt you and ask you whether you wish
  to overwrite it or retain it.  If you have a newer version that one of these,
  keep it and do not overwrite.  

  Here are 2 popular locations in which you will find these files:
  ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/simtelnet/win95/dll/vb5rtsp3.zip
  ftp://ftp.winsite.com/pub/pc/win95/programr/vbasic/vb5rtsp3.zip

  NOTE:  If you are having difficulty locating this file, connect to the Hirtle
  Software web page (listed below) for links to many locations where you may
  download it.



Benchmark Testing:
==================

Test #1:
========
Total Passwords    - 1,000,000
Total Characters   - 60
Time to create     - 3:45:00
Disk Space         - 59 MB
DB Conversion Time - 10 Minutes
DB Disk Space      - 75 MB
MS-Word Pages      - 17,544 (1" margins, 10pt Courier New Font)

Test #2:
========
Total Passwords    - 32,000
Total Characters   - 60
Time to create     - 0:3:45
Disk Space         - 2.5 MB
DB Conversion Time - 12 Seconds
DB Disk Space      - 3 MB
MS-Word Pages      - 562 (1" margins, 10pt Courier New Font)

Test Computer:
==============
Pentium 266 Mhz PII Processor
32 MB RAM
6.4 GB HDD

NOTE:  Your milage will vary depending upon your computer processing
speed, RAM, number of characters requested, number of characters in which
to choose from, other applications running, whether duplication,
side-by-side and sequential checker is on, etc.....



Installation:
=============

- Run SETUP.EXE using the RUN option from the Start menu of Windows,
or double click on the SETUP.EXE icon from Windows Explorer.

- Follow the directions of the install program.



Distribution:
=============

- Random Password Generator - PRO is distributed as Shareware. The Author maintains
all rights to the program in its entirety. Review the LICENSE.TXT file before using
this software. All users are bound by the conditions of the LICENSE.TXT file. If
you do not agree or accept these conditions then you must completely remove
Random Password Generator - PRO from your computer system.

- Random Password Generator may be distributed freely as long as the integrity of
Shareware is maintained.

- The author grants a 30 day trial period for users to decide whether they want to keep
the program. If so, a $24.95 payment is required (plus shipping and handlind, see order
form in Help menu). If not, then before the 30 days is up, you must delete this program
from your system(s). Payment must be in the form of check, cash or money order made out
in U.S. currency only.

- Credit Cards can ONLY be accepted via WWW online purchases using Hirtle Software URL
address shown on the bottom of this page. Mail-in (postal) orders must be paid via check,
money order or cash method (US Funds ONLY). Telephone or E-mail ordering is not accepted.

- This version is half price ($12.45 + Shipping & Handling(see order form)) for all
previously registered customers of the standard edition. One per previous registration
at this price. Those who are upgrading must provide the author with the exact same user
name as what the original registration was registered to. Upgrade ordering can only be
handled via mail-in (postal) requests. 


Compuserve Customers:
Save a stamp! You can register this program online (Compuserve) if desired.
The cost of this program will be added to your Compuserve account.
Here's how:

1. Use the GO SWREG command
2. Select 'Register Shareware' option
3. Select the geographic region you reside in
4. This is a search area. select the appropriate fields which will help identify
   this application. once done choose 'Begin Search' then 'Display Selection'. This
   application is REG # 15279
5. The number of matching titles found will be displayed. Select the appropriate
   title and the the 'Select' button
6. Select the 'Description' button
7. Select the 'Register' button
8. Fill out the appropriate information and your done

That's it!  You have now registered this software. Your next Compuserve
bill will show that you have registered this software. The author will
send you a registered copy of this application or send you a
registration number immediately to enter into the program which will 
activate the registered features.

NOTE: SWREG does not allow for different pricing policies. Therefore previous registered
customers wishing to register the newer version at half price should use postal mail to
the author with an order form. Otherwise SWREG will charge you full price.


Disclaimer:
===========

Random Password Generator has no expressed or implied warranty. The user accepts full
responsibility for this program by loading it on their computer. At no time is the
author responsible for any hardware or software malfunctions caused by this program.
Though the author knows of no such problems from this software, he is not liable if
any should occur.



NOTE:
=====
A shareware limitation is placed on this software. Users will only be allowed to
request a maximum of 25 passwords in a single execution. Registered customers will be
granted full access, up to 1,000,000 passwords in a single execution. See order form
for registration details.



Version Information:
====================

V1.0
====
Initial release.



V1.1
====
- Added the ability to sort or unsort results.

- Made the Help menu uneditable. Previously the help menu could be
edited, though it the changes would not be saved. Now help is read-only.



V2.0
====
- Added uppercase letters to the program. Now when letters are requested, both upper
and lowercase letters are used in the equation. For instance the letter "r" and the
letter "R" are both treated as different choices in the calculator. Most password
programs should treat upper and lowercase letters individually. this will
increase the security of passwords with more choices on which an individual must
consider when attempting to crack them.

- Added the ability to use special symbols into the calculator. Now you may
have the calculator randomly select special characters such as !@#$%^&*()-_=+;:'<>?
this will also increase the security of passwords with more choices on which an
individual must consider when attempting to crack them. When Symbols are desired
they have approximately a 30% probability of being selected. 

- Removed much of the error checking code between the total passwords and the
total characters operator inputs. Because of the uppercase and symbol additions,
the error checking is too intensive to include into the application. These two
inputs should be intuitive without intense error checking.

- As many as 2000 passwords can now be selected when including symbols along with
the combination of letters and numbers.



v2.1
====
- Seperated the letter choice into 2 seperate categories; lowercase and uppercase
letters. This adds more flexibility to users who have specific preferences.

- Fixed a minor problem that would cause an error when users pressed the backspace
key in either the number of passwords or number of characters box.

- Modified the randomizer to provide equal weight to each character. Previous
versions did not provide this. For example if the user requested numbers and
letters, previous versions would use a 50/50 probability between numbers and
letters. This was not the best method since there are 26 letters and only 10
numbers. Each number theoretically had a higher probability of being selected.
This version provides equal weight to all characters.

- Added a pop-up message to identify when the application is computing. Sometimes
when large passwords are requested, especially on slower computer systems, the 
application may take a few moments to finish it's computations.



V2.2
====
- Administrative release to update registration information.



V3.0
====
- Added 'Characters to Use' window to show the total number of characters the
user has specified to be used in the random calculator.

- Added the ability to eliminate certain characters which appear similar to one another.
Small case L, J, I, along with upper case letter O, and numbers 0, 1 will not be selected
by Random Password Generator if desired by the user. These characters can be confused with
others. To eliminate this confusion the operator can choose not to have them selected.

- Modified registration information and windows.

- Placed shareware limitations into application.

- Prevented more than one instance of application to run.

- Added quick help to many options within the application. Now you can select
any option choice to see a quick help window stating the purpose and limitations of the
selected option.

- Added a notification when attempting to write to a file which already exists. The application
will now ask if the file should be rewritten. Also removed the read-only option in the save window.

- Modified the 'Copy' option to be enabled only if a password is selected. Now only either the
sorted or the unsorted windows can show a selected password. Previous versions would allow both
windows to display selected passwords, even when only one was active. Also eliminated the ability
to make multiple selections in either window since only the most recent selection could be copied
to the clipboard. This elimates some confusion.



V4.0
====
- Added the ability to request up to 32,000 passwords in a single pass. Previous versions
could only do a maximum of 2000. Removed the 'Computing...Please Wait' notification.

- Added 12 additional special characters to bring the maximum number of characters
to 94 vice 82 in previous versions. RPG now uses the exact character set that
Microsoft Windows utilizes. Now with 94 total characters to select from, it would
be even more difficult to crack these passwords.

- Added the ability for users to choose whether to check for duplications or allow
duplications.

- Added a 'Passwords Generated' read-out display so users can see the exact number of
passwords which is currently being selected. This feature is very handy for high numbers
of password requests. It gives users an idea of how long it will take to complete.

- Added 'Save Sorted' and 'Save Unsorted' options in the 'File' menu. Now, besides the
buttons, users can use the pull down menu for these features.

- Added 'Display Character Set' option in the 'Help' menu. This option will display
the entire 94 characters available to RPG.

- Added a routine which will check for unreasonable requests. For instance Total Characters
is 3 while using only Numbers, and Total Passwords = 2000. If You request that no
duplications is required, then it would be unreasonable. The max passwords that could be
generated in this scenerio is 1000. Therefore, you will now be alerted prior to any
passwords being selected.

- Changed the maximum total characters which can be generated for each password to 25 vice 30
in previous versions. 25 is more friendly to work with than is 30, plus 30 is very high and
probably is not necessary for most (if not all) users.

- Streamlined the randomizer algorithm which now essentially doubles the speed of which
passwords are generated.

- Modified the 'Characters to Use' read-out display to show exactly how many characters will
will used in password generation. V3.0 did not account for characters which were eliminated
do to similar appearance with others.

- Added CTRL_C shortcut key option to copy passwords.

- Changed some code that will allow you to operate other applications while passwords are
being generated. Previous versions would tie-up the entire computer when creating passwords.
Now, you can operate other apps. Allowing 32,000 passwords can take some time, previous
versions could only perform 2,000, so locking the computer is a greater issue.

- Added a 'Stop' button so that password generations can be stopped at anytime. Password
generation can take a long time if a high quantity is requested. This stop feature is handy
in situations where you don't want to wait for it to complete.

- Added a probability readout display which indicates the 'liklihood' that someone could crack
a single password simply by guessing. The readout display dynamically updates depending upon
many factors such as the amount of characters per password and amount of total character to 
choose from.



V5.0
====

- Added the ability to create up to 1,000,000 passwords at a time. The previous version
could only create a max of 32,000. All password requests over 32,000 will be saved directly
to a text file (unsorted).

- Added the ability to save and open settings. This is handy when you have consistent
password settings which you use often. Instead up setting it up each time, you can now save
your usual settings and load them back in.

- Added password details to every saved file. Now at the beginning of each file the settings
used to create the passwords will be printed.

- Added counter to icon. When an application is minimized while executing, it will display
the generated password count on the icon.

- Added a status window to inform users of significant events.



V6.0
====

- Added the ability to select or deselect any of the 94 available characters for inclusion
orexclusion to the randomizer. Now you can decide exactly which characters you want to use
or not. Previous versions only allowed you to decide by whole categories such as numbers,
lowercase and uppercase letters, and special characters.

- Added the ability to add hyphens to passwords. Now you can place hyphens anywhere within
passwords. For instance if you want a hypen after the 4th character of each password, one
simple click will do this for you. Many users use this application for such things as
registration generators where hyphens are commonly used.

- Added a Side-By-Side Check option that if selected will check for any 2 exact same
characters which appear next to one another. If it detects 2 exact characters next to each
other it will automatically reselect a different character on the second occurrance.

- Added a Sequential Check option that if selected will check for any 2 characters which
are sequential in nature (i.e. 12, ab, AB, etc..) that appear next to each other. If it
detects 2 sequntial characters next to one another it will automatically reselect a
different character on the second occurrance.

- Added a Multi-File Create option in the File Menu. This feature if selected can allow you
to create as many as 9999 files at one time, each randomly selected and different from the
other. This one simple set-up saves time for those needing many different files. Once set-up
the randomizer will continue from one file to the next automatically without further operator
involvement.

- Eliminated the Eliminate Similar Characters option. This feature is now the Default button
on the Character Selection Window. You may decide exactly which characters in which to use
or eliminate.

- Added an Options menu that places all the options available to the operator in one simple
location.

- Changed the Help information to be sensitive to the specific area of interest. For 
instance if you want to know what the Duplication Check is, just click on the Duplication
Check button. The information provided will be specific to explaining Duplication Check.
And so on for other features.

- Removed the minute counter from the shareware version. However, the application is still
limited to a maximun of 25 passwords per execution for non registered users.



V7.0 - PRO Version (32-Bit)
===========================

- 32-Bit only version for Windows 95/98/NT 4+ users

- Increased the maximum amount of characters in a single password to 60. Previous versions
only allowed a maximum of 25 characters.

- Added feature which automatically saves the current settings prior to exiting the application,
and automatically recalls the previous settings when the program is executed.

- Added the ability to convert text files to Microsoft Access® database files. Now password
text files can automatically be converted into a MS-Access® DB file. You do not need MS-Access®
to perform this function.

- Added a Microsoft Access® database file viewer and editor. You may view and edit your
password files (in database format) that have been converted to MS-Access® files with Random
Password Generator-PRO. You do not need MS-Access® to perform this function.

- Added the ability to turn on/off the generation counter. Turning off this counter will 
speed-up the generation process.

- Added Compact and Repair Database options to aid in database maintenance.

- Modified the code to streamline the process of selecting random characters. This should
speed up the process.



Send payment, questions and comments to:

Timothy L. Hirtle
P.O. Box 1332
Virginia Beach, VA  23451-0332

Internet: 
hirtle@pinn.net  (primary)
102705.2261@compuserve.com  (secondary)


Hirtle Software is now on the WWW. The latest versions can be found here including
other fine software products. You can get the latest information, preview software
online, and download the latest versions all at one location:

WWW URL Address:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/hirtle/





