anyone here uses PGP? - UPDATE LOOK BELOW

[wolf550e]

i'm thinking of getting PGP, so i ask for the opinions here. is it any good? how cool is it? does it make problems when mailing ppl who dont have it?
easiest way to implement? cn i have it for free (with full functionality)? whats the fuss with US export law?
etc.

TIA, Wolf550e

 

[sohcrates]

i use pgp on and off

yeah, it's cool, and works really well. and last time i checked, it was totally free.

but it DOES suck to e-mail people who aren't used to dealing with it....and it's a little confusing when you begin.

so overall, works well but can be a hassle

 

[THELAIR]

the windows PGP is free for non commercial use.

PGP used in the right way is a very powerfull tool. But I honestly think that the average person out there DOES NOT need to use what PGP offers.

For example there is NO SITUATION i could ever forsee my mother needing to download PGP and use it in her limited use of the computer.

However, if your in business for yourself or are in charge of sensitive files ie financial records, client names etc then yes I would say its almost stupid not to use PGP.

I just find it annoying when someone emials me, pgp encrypts it and its some stupid junk letter chain email message, or a new banana bread recipe.

In windows it is quite easy to use. You can highlight a bunch of files on your hard disk, right click and choose PGP and the encrypt option and it sorta works like winzip, bundles all the files together and makes em into an .exe that is encrypted. Thats neat.

For email its quite easy as well, you can choose to sign or encrypt or do both. When you sign it (not like a signature) it sorta certifies that the email came from you, but the message is still in the clear.

People who have no clue what PGP is and see your public key can get really confused

"hey i think your email messed up there is all this goobly de goop at hte bottom"

Also the free download version at pgp.com supports ICQ, perfect for encrypting those FTP links! hehehe

 

[iamthesystem]

PGP rules....

 

[Davegod75]

i downloaded it but couldn't get it to work...can you encrypt the email itself (ie text) and not just files you send

 

[sohcrates]

DaveGod75: yep, you sure can encode e-mails with pgp. nice webpage btw!

 

[wolf550e]

well i'm going to try it.
what key should i generate? it has 3 options: Diffie-Hellman/DSS, RSA, or RSA Legacy.

and what size? 1024/2048/4096 bit?

 

[jleon]

You can use the default settings to start. Different encryption options and bits mostly make a difference in speed and the ability to crack it (not like it wont takes months to crack the lowest bit encryption already). If you have a large file/email to encrypt, it will take a lot longer time to encrypt before sending if you chose the larger bits. Also, decrypting it on the other end will take some time.

 

[Ipno]

I use PGP about half the e-mails or ICQs I send.

Most of the time it is really not needed.

But I suppose if I only sent one or two PGPd messages a year it'd look kinda suspicious. =)