Trouble installing
I keep getting this strange result when I try to install. I click the green arrow, which invites me to install 51 MB. This produces a screen with the address bar saying only, "Go to this address," when there is no actual address there, and then nothing happens. What should I do now?
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1 Posted by Pelican on 17 Mar, 2012 06:30 PM
This box is headed, "Reply to this discussion," but it contains no reply, unless I am supposed to reply to myself. Is anyone actually reading this?
2 Posted by Alex on 17 Mar, 2012 07:08 PM
Have a look at your Download folder in your home directory. Safari is storing your downloads there.
3 Posted by Russell Wells on 18 Mar, 2012 03:52 PM
Thanks, Alex. I think I've managed to install the downloads. If this is correct, then as of now, all my incoming and outgoing e-mails should be unreadable by anyone but me and the corresponding party. Is there any way to check whether this is really being done?
Support Staff 4 Posted by Steve on 18 Mar, 2012 08:35 PM
Russell, it seems you are rather new to the whole topic of encryption. My suggestion is, please take the time and read our Quickstart Tutorial so you get an idea of how our tools work and how mail encryption is done.
http://support.gpgtools.org/kb/how-to/first-steps-where-do-i-start-...
5 Posted by Russell Wells on 24 Mar, 2012 09:05 PM
Steve, you are absolutely correct! After looking at the Quickstart Tutorial, I realize how ill-prepared I am. I am hoping to get some help from someone who has a higher tolerance for this, in a few days. Best wishes,
Russell
Support Staff 6 Posted by Luke Le on 24 Mar, 2012 09:36 PM
Hi Russell,
we're very glad to answer each of your questions which
should not already be answered in the Quick Start linked by Steve
Support Staff 7 Posted by Steve on 25 Mar, 2012 01:00 PM
Russell, as Luke mentioned already, we'll be glad to help you out. At which step of the setup process are you stuck? Did you manage to get the tools installed? What is not working for you currently?
8 Posted by Russell Wells on 29 Mar, 2012 08:19 PM
Steve,
Thanks for offering to help. I thought I had downloaded and installed the program. I thought that was all I had to do, since nothing prompted me to do anything more. When I asked how I was to know that all my e-mails were now encoded, you replied that I needed to read the tutorial. Which I tried to do, and it told me that I am going to need to set aside some serious time to study it. No time at the moment. I will get back to you when I understand enough to ask a question.
Best wishes,
Russell
Support Staff 9 Posted by Steve on 30 Mar, 2012 12:25 PM
Hey Russell,
sure, take your time. Still recommend the http://support.gpgtools.org/kb/how-to/first-steps-where-do-i-start-... article for startes.
Just ask whenever you have some capacity.
Cheers, steve
10 Posted by Russell Wells on 30 Mar, 2012 04:00 PM
Hello Steve,
I have just tried to read the "Where do I start" tutorial for the third time, and have given up for the third time. My mind will not grasp this type of information. It feels like having to climb a vertical wall with no handholds. I can see that it is written as clearly as possible, but it's still useless. So I need to ask: Is it really necessary for all users to understand how this works? I can't understand the first thing about mechanical matters, yet I can operate a car, a computer, and a telephone without knowing anything about how they work. Why can't I have a set of steps that I can understand? E.g., 1. Do this, then 2. Do that, then 3. Do the next thing, etc.? And more, these have to be understandable instructions in English —which may be the problem, and it may be insuperable, since it seems that all computer-related explanations become incomprehensible after the third sentence.
I have downloaded the program, and I followed the instructions (I think) for installing it. Then, nothing happened. I supposed, absent further instructions, that this was it. I need to know (i) if I have really installed the program, and (ii) what to do now, if I have. I realize that you must think you're dealing with an imbecile, and when it comes to computers, that I am. If this tests your patience too much, as well it may, I shall wait until next week, when some younger person may be able to assist me.
Best wishes,
Russell
Support Staff 11 Posted by Luke Le on 30 Mar, 2012 04:04 PM
Hi Russel,
the first question you gotta ask yourself I think is, what do you expect from the tools or with what expectation did you decide to install them.
Once we have that I assure you we'll get you going.
A quick summary what they do:
- Allow you to safely encrypt and decrypt mail messages or files
- Allow you to verify the owner of a signed mail message or file.
If either of those is something you wanna do, please tell us which :)
The whole topic is very complex at its core and our goal is it to make it
as easy as possible for end users, so your feedback is indeed very valuable.
12 Posted by Russell Wells on 30 Mar, 2012 04:19 PM
Hey Luke, thanks for your prompt reply.
In response to your question, I gather from reading the tutorial that I should want to do both of the things you mentioned, for maximum security, which is what I need.
thanks for your help.
Russell
Support Staff 13 Posted by Luke Le on 30 Mar, 2012 04:27 PM
Ok great, so that's established.
Now after installing it should have asked you if you want to create a private key.
If it didn't, not good, but it's explained how you do that here:
https://github.com/GPGTools/GPGKeychainAccess/wiki/Getting-started
Skip to the section "How to create a key-pair"
Now for the basic understanding you must know that for each key there's always a private key portion (you don't share that with anyone!) and a public key portion (you give that one to the person you want to securely communicate with)
-- The following information applies to files as well, not only mail messages --
In order to sign a message your private key is used and the other party can verify your signature with your public key.
In order to encrypt a message the public key of the person is used you want to encrypt for and they decrypt using their private key.
With that information please try to create your first signed & encrypted email using this guide: http://support.gpgtools.org/kb/how-to/your-first-encrypted-mail
I hope this clarifies things a bit.
14 Posted by Russell Wells on 04 Apr, 2012 09:49 PM
Hello Luke,
It sounds to me as if both parties to a correspondence need to have at least, a public key. I hope this is not the case, because it would mean that only those to whom one has entrusted the public key would be able to participate. This is not what I had in mind. I previously spoke with someone who claimed that their system would encrypt all e-mails, even from or to people who had no idea that anything was being encrypted. Also I had the impression, from trying to read the tutorial, that this was possible with your system as well. There are some people that I intend to write to, who could not be entrusted with any key, since they may well lose it or disregard it, and would in any case see it as an unwelcome burden. But I still need all our correspondence to be encrypted, or otherwise protected from intrusion. Please let me know if this is possible.
I have had recent assistance from a more alert colleague, who revealed that I had not installed the program, as I had imagined. But now, we believe, it is installed. We have created a passphrase, which was the last thing we did with any confidence. We believe we have reached the limit of what can be done online, and would like to know if you may be contacted directly by phone to further discuss the capabilities of the program, and to know the next steps, if it will do what we need. If it doesn't, we'd like to know if you're aware of another program that will do that.
Thanks for your help.
Russell
Support Staff 15 Posted by Luke Le on 04 Apr, 2012 10:01 PM
Hi Russell,
the party you want to send an encrypted email to has to have a public key.
You encrypt to their public key which makes sure that only they can read it.
But that's why I asked in the first place what you want to do.
You could simply sign the message which assures to the recipient that the message was received exactly as sent, or if it was in fact modified in any way, they'd see an error. This however always requires that the receiving party has a software installed which is compatible with your security software.
I'd be interested to know what system you're referring to, which allows you to send encrypted email to anyone, since that doesn't make much sense unless the emails are only protected by password which is then of course less secure, but might still suffice.
We can setup a meeting, but since it sounds like you would like to deploy our system in a company it feels like this exceeds the basic support you can expect from a completely free software and we'd have to charge you for that.
I hope you understand.
16 Posted by Russell Wells on 09 Apr, 2012 09:08 PM
Hi Luke,
The company that told me that they could set up a system that encrypts even messages between me and someone who didn't know they were encrypted, is called Websense. I googled them this morning, and it seems there are a number of sites telling you how to get around Websense! So it seems there is no other way than the one you suggest. That's OK, I can give the public key to selected people. However, going back to your original question, as which of these two I wanted,
- Allow you to safely encrypt and decrypt mail messages or files
- Allow you to verify the owner of a signed mail message or file,
I blindly replied— Whichever one gives the greatest security. But in fact I think I need only the first. Clueless as I am, I can't see how you'd need the second if you had the first. Anyway, simpler is better, as long as it does as the Tutorial said, which was to protect e/mail from being read by "major governments." I hope this will tell you which of these options I should have selected.
So let us proceed on that basis. We now have the program installed. I will go back to the place we left off and e-mail you again. Thanks for your patience.
Russell
Support Staff 17 Posted by Steve on 12 Apr, 2012 05:29 PM
We just wrote a huge revamp of the quickstart guide. Maybe you'd like to have a look? http://support.gpgtools.org/kb/how-to/first-steps-where-do-i-start-...
I'm not sure which open questions remain. Let us know :)
Support Staff 18 Posted by Steve on 22 May, 2012 11:58 AM
No further user feedback. Closing.
@all: Should your problem persist, feel free to re-open this discussion any time.
All the best,
steve
Please consider a donation. We do all this in our spare time.
Steve closed this discussion on 22 May, 2012 11:58 AM.