Scatter v.1.0 ------------- ½ Carl J. Hafner ALL RIGHTS RESERVED! March 19, 1994 DISCLAIMER ---------- The author cannot be responsible for ANY damage to your equipment, other hardware or software products, or physical or mental well being caused by the use, misuse, abuse or inability to use this program. The author also makes no guarantee as to the compatibility of this program with other software or hardware products, and hereby disclaims any implied warranty with respect to fitness for any particular purpose. Using this program means that you agree to accept FULL responsibility for ANY and ALL events arising from its implementation ! If you do NOT understand AND agree with these terms, do NOT use this program ! BIG IMPORTANT STUFF ------------------- ALWAYS keep backups of files you intend to encrypt. This is a MUST !!! If you attempt to decrypt a file with the wrong password code, it will be further encrypted ! At this point, not even Scatter will be able to decipher it for you !!! There is also NO WAY to figure out a password code if you forget it ! PURPOSE ------- To encrypt and decrypt files. WELL..? ------- Run the program. From the menus you may select... ABOUT... ^A ----------- Copyright information. ^A is the keyboard equivalent, [CONTROL]+[A]. PASSWORD ^P ----------- Allows you to enter the encryption/decryption code. This is the code which MUST be entered before your file can be properly decrypted ! If you encrypt a file with the code Password , you will NEED to use the code Password to decrypt it ! WARNING: If you attempt to decrypt a file with a password code other than the one with which it was encrypted, the file WILL BE DESTROYED ! It won't be erased, just encrypted even further. The more you enter a wrong password, the more scrambled the file becomes ! You should therefore ALWAYS keep unencrypted backups of files somewhere safe (in case you forget your password code). NOTE: The password code can be ANYTHING you like (including control characters). You MAY not wish to make it TOO obvious, ie:12345. DELETE FILE ^K -------------- Allows you to delete (Kill) a file. ENCRYPT FILE ^E --------------- Encryption scrambles a file so that it essentially becomes useless until it is decrypted. Each byte of the file is changed to an other, seemingly random, byte. The scrambled file looks like garbage. o Make SURE you have entered a password code. o Select an _UN_encrypted file from the first fileselector. ie: DESKTOP.INF o From the second fileselector, enter the NEW name for the encrypted file. ie: DESKTOP.ENC o Scatter will then encrypt the file. DECRYPT FILE ^D --------------- Decryption returns the encrypted file to its original state, AS LONG AS you enter the CORRECT password code. o Make SURE you have entered the CORRECT password code for this file. o Select the ENcrypted file from the first fileselector. ie: DESKTOP.ENC o From the second fileselector, enter the NEW name for the DEcrypted file. ie: DESKTOP.DEC o Scatter will then decrypt the file. QUIT ^Q ------- Exits the program. OTHER STUFF ----------- If the screen display gets "messed up" (for some reason), hold down BOTH mouse buttons. This will reset the mouse cursor to an arrow, send a redraw message to the screen and reinitialize the menu. The mouse buttons may take a couple of seconds to register, so be patient. When the screen redraws, release the buttons. SPEED ----- Scatter is fairly slow when compared to other encryption utilities, especially with larger files. I got snowed in one day and wondered what it would take to write such a program, and this is the preliminary result ! My next project for Scatter is, of course, to make it faster. If you think Scatter has fallen asleep, hold down the [CONTROL] key while the file is being en/decrypted. The number of remaining bytes will appear on the top of the screen. NOTE that displaying this information WILL slow down the process ! SECURITY -------- Scatter does NOT claim to provide total security. I'm certain that if given the time, anybody with a bit of ingenuity could decrypt your file (not that it would be easy or quick). Scatter is really designed to keep the casual user from "messing with your stuff" :-) . DISTRIBUTION ------------ Scatter v.1.0 is FREEWARE ! You are free to use it without obligation. It STILL remains the property of the author. You are free to copy and distribute Scatter as long as the files... SCATTER.PRG / SCATTER.TXT / OTHERTTL.LZH are included, are NOT modified in ANY way and NO FEE of ANY type is incurred upon the recipient for the files _themselves_. CREDITS ------- Scatter ½ Carl J. Hafner VERSION HISTORY --------------- 1.0 - Original version. --FGCFBA