SafeHouse User's Guide

SafeHouse Explorer User's Guide

Version 3.01

Welcome to SafeHouse Explorer and the entire SafeHouse product line. SafeHouse is the very best software you'll find when it comes to protecting the privacy of your files and keeping intruders out. When you simply cannot afford to let your confidential files fall into the wrong hands, this is the software you need.

What is SafeHouse Explorer?

SafeHouse Explorer hides and protects your private documents and files, keeping them safe from intruders and anyone else who doesn't have your permission to view them. It does this using passwords and super-strong 256-bit encryption.

SafeHouse Explorer is FREE!

Incredibly Simple Software

SafeHouse Explorer In Action Video

See SafeHouse Explorer in action and you'll instantly agree that this software is incredibly easy to use; even for novice computer users. Watch video...

SafeHouse Explorer uses passwords and advanced encryption to completely hide and defend your sensitive files, including photos, videos, spreadsheets, databases and just about any other kind of file that you might have. SafeHouse Explorer can protect files residing on any drive, including memory sticks, external USB drives, network servers and CD/DVDs.

SafeHouse Explorer creates hidden private storage areas on your local hard drive or external media to hold your confidential files. Your files are completely invisible until you enter your password. After you enter your secret password, you access your files using SafeHouse Explorer's familiar drag-and-drop Explorer-like interface.

Optionally Run Stand-Alone without Installing

SafeHouse Explorer can optionally be run as a stand-alone executable file (SafeHouseExplorer.exe) without needing to be installed -- meaning that it can be run directly from USB memory devices or even the Internet; thereby making it possible for you to now access your protected files from public-access PCs found in schools, libraries and coffee shops. See how it's done.

Use in Combination with SafeHouse Personal and Professional Editions

SafeHouse Explorer is the perfect companion to our other SafeHouse products. Although our commercial products may offer a great number of additional features, sometimes you just want a lightweight portable utility which offers quick and easy access to your confidential files from different machines where you don't have the right or option to install third-party software.

SafeHouse Explorer can peacefully co-exist with our other SafeHouse products on the same machine. In fact, when this is the case, SafeHouse Explorer gets a power boost because it is able to automatically take advantage of a variety of features offered only by our commercial products.

Starting Points

We guarantee you'll be up and running with SafeHouse Explorer in just a few minutes. These links will help get you started.

  • Product Features and Comparison Chart

  • How SafeHouse Explorer Works (Basic Concepts)

  • Getting Started with SafeHouse Explorer

  • How to Perform Basic Tasks

Our official website is SafeHouseSoftware.com. Drop by and check out our video tutorials!

The Many Flavors of SafeHouse

SafeHouse is distributed in several versions:

  • SafeHouse Explorer (FREE)

  • SafeHouse Personal Edition

  • SafeHouse Professional Edition

SafeHouse Explorer is published as a free companion application to our commercial SafeHouse products.

SafeHouse Explorer is full-featured and self-contained. Although it is not necessary to install any of our other SafeHouse products in order to use SafeHouse Explorer as a complete security solution, you may find some of the features available only in our commercial products to be quite useful and desirable; especially in business environments. However, if your data protection and encryption requirements are fairly basic, then you may just find that SafeHouse Explorer is the only encryption product you'll ever need.

SafeHouse Personal Edition is intended mostly for home or individual use. Our Professional Edition includes everything in the Personal Edition plus an amazing array of features aimed at power users and corporate deployments.

All three versions of SafeHouse share the same encrypted file format.

See our features comparison chart for a complete list of differences between the products.

U3 Smart Drives

If you are a fan of U3 Smart Drives (see U3.com), then you'll be happy to know that we also have a version of SafeHouse Explorer designed specifically for U3. It's actually the same program -- only packaged in a different installer to meet the setup requirements for U3 devices. The U3 version is a free download at SafeHouseSoftware.com.

More Information

Here are some additional starting points.

  • System Requirements

  • Frequent Questions

  • License Agreement

  • How to Contact Us

© Copyright 2009 PC Dynamics, Inc.


System Requirements

The system requirements for SafeHouse Explorer are listed below:

  • Windows 2000/XP/Vista/Server 2003 & 2008 and Windows 7

  • 10MB of hard drive space for program files

  • Internet Explorer 5.0 or greater

  • Additional space for your private files

Other SafeHouse Editions

SafeHouse Explorer is fully compatible with SafeHouse Personal Edition and SafeHouse Professional Edition. SafeHouse Explorer is fully capable of running stand-alone without either of these other companion SafeHouse products; however, SafeHouse Explorer is able to detect that one of these other products is installed on the same PC and will automatically take advantage of some of their extended features.


Product Comparison

Product Features and Comparison Chart

SafeHouse Explorer is provided as a FREE utility which is intended compliment our commercial Personal Edition and Professional Edition versions of SafeHouse. The Personal Edition is intended mostly for home or individual use, and the Professional Edition is intended for business and power users.

SafeHouse Explorer is a full-featured product which offers many of the features of our commercial applications and is well-suited for users who need a simple no-frills basic protection product. All three SafeHouse products share the same encrypted file format.

The table below lists the primary differences between the products. See System Requirements.

Feature Description | SafeHouse Explorer | Personal Edition | Professional Edition
Simple installation takes less than 5 minutes. |  |  |
Compatible with Windows 2000/XP/2003/2008/Vista/Win7. |  |  |
Uses super-strong 256-bit Twofish encryption. |  |  |
Supports maximum-strength 448-bit encryption. |  |  |
Supports AES, Blowfish and other encryption methods. |  |  |
Compatible with all popular Windows applications. |  |  |
Protects documents, spreadsheets, photos, videos, databases and other files. |  |  |
Lightning fast. Does not degrade performance. |  |  |
Fully-integrated with Windows and Explorer. |  |  |
Private storage volumes as large as 2,000GB each. |  |  |
Unlimited number of private storage volumes. |  |  |
Private storage volumes can be resized at any time. |  |  |
Protects files on both local and external hard drives. |  |  |
Protects files on CD and DVD (secure archives). |  |  |
Protects files on USB Flash drives and memory sticks. |  |  |
Can be used to email protected files. |  |  |
Includes system tray utility for easy access. |  |  |
Backup private volumes to external storage devices. |  |  |
Private files can be located on shared network servers. |  |  |
Password strength meter helps you choose strong passwords. |  |  |
Freely distributable software application - full version. |  |  |
Freely-distributable trial version can read all protected files (using password). |  |  |
Can make self-extracting encrypted volumes. |  |  |
Supports storing passwords on PowerLogon smartcards. |  |  |
Supports storing passwords on Sphinx smartcards. |  |  |
Store passwords on virtual smartcards and USB memory sticks. |  |  |
Auto-lock private volumes on smartcard removal. |  |  |
Export smartcard contents to secure disk files. |  |  |
Command line API supports simple scripting. |  |  |
Auto-open private volumes on Windows startup. |  |  |
Auto-close private volumes on Windows logoff or shutdown. |  |  |
Auto-lock private files on Windows hibernate. |  |  |
Auto-lock private files after activity timeout or on demand. |  |  |
Private volumes can be formatted to use NTFS. |  |  |
Private volumes are compatible with disk optimizers. |  |  |
Huge Password dictionary warns against easy-to-guess passwords. |  |  |
Auto-run applications when private volumes are opened. |  |  |
Auto-run applications when private volumes are closed. |  |  |
Supports storing passwords on ActivIdentity smartcards. |  |  |
Supports storing passwords on Aladdin eTokens and smartcards. |  |  |
Supports generic PKCS#11-compliant smartcards. |  |  |
Private volumes can be set to grow automatically as they fill up. |  |  |
Includes full support for setting password rules. |  |  |
Supports multiple administrator levels. |  |  |
Supports multiple administration groups or zones. |  |  |
Administrators can reset lost passwords on private volumes. |  |  |
Includes FREE web-based administration tools. |  |  |
Maintains audit logs of administrator activities. |  |  |
Allows lost passwords to be reset by administrators over the Internet. |  |  |
Supports silent GUI-less installs for automated deployments. |  |  |
Includes tools to create customized installation programs. |  |  |
Includes advanced programming API and ActiveX component. |  |  |

Some SafeHouse Explorer features require that you install the included performance enhancement options.

Which Edition is Best for Me?

We realize that it's not always obvious which edition of the product might be best for different situations. If you're still having trouble choosing, hopefully the lists below will clarify things for you.

Please know that SafeHouse Explorer can easily co-exist with both SafeHouse Personal and SafeHouse Professional editions. In fact, the features of our free SafeHouse Explorer software are designed to compliment our commercial products. Many people will find it beneficial to install SafeHouse Explorer alongside one of our other products.

Choose SafeHouse Professional Edition when:

  • You require the strongest encryption available.

  • You will be distributing the software to multiple employees.

  • You must be able to reset lost passwords.

  • You will be using automated deployment tools.

  • You need to customize the Setup program.

  • You want advanced smartcard support.

  • You'll be using the scripting and programming APIs.

Choose SafeHouse Personal Edition when:

  • The product is generally for your own personal use.

  • You don't need to be able to reset lost passwords.

  • You don't require ultra-strength encryption.

  • You don't require a customized Setup program.

  • You don't require multi-level administration.

  • You don't require advanced smartcard support.

  • You don't require any advanced programming features.

Choose SafeHouse Explorer when:

  • Your encryption needs are very simple.

  • You wish to use a freely-distributable product -- which is FREE!

  • You need access to your encrypted data from other peoples' machines.

  • You want a very light-weight encryption solution.


Getting Started with SafeHouse Explorer

SafeHouse Explorer hides and protects your private documents and files, keeping them safe from intruders and anyone else who doesn't have your permission to view them.

Below is a condensed version of this manual which includes enough of the basics to get you going.

Incredibly Simple Software

SafeHouse Explorer In Action Video

See SafeHouse Explorer in action and you'll instantly agree that this software is incredibly easy to use; even for novice computer users. Watch video...

Passwords Plus Strong Encryption

SafeHouse Explorer uses passwords and advanced encryption to completely hide and defend your sensitive files, including photos, videos, spreadsheets, databases and just about any other kind of file that you might have. SafeHouse Explorer can protect files residing on any drive, including memory sticks, external USB drives, network servers and CD/DVDs.

Private Storage Vaults

SafeHouse keeps your confidential files in large protected container files which can range in size from a few megabytes to hundreds of gigabytes. In a way, they're sort of like folders. These containers are called volumes.

Your files are completely invisible until you enter your password. After you enter your secret password, you access your files using SafeHouse Explorer's familiar drag-and-drop Explorer-like interface.

Once you move your files into one of these containers, they're instantly under the full protection of SafeHouse. SafeHouse only guards files which are contained in these encrypted volumes.

The number of files which can fit in a SafeHouse volume depends upon the size you choose when they're first created. You can create an unlimited number of volumes on any number of disk drives or memory sticks. The maximum size is 2,000 Gigabytes (2TB).

Perfect for USB Memory Sticks

Use on any PC - No Install Needed!

SafeHouse Explorer can be run directly from Flash memory sticks without needing to be installed. Click to see how.

SafeHouse Volumes

Here's a few things you should know about SafeHouse volumes:

  • Volumes are standard Windows files. You can view, move or delete them in Explorer just as you would with any other files.

  • The file extension for SafeHouse volumes is .SDSK. You can easily identify them by their distinctive red folder icon (shown above).

  • The maximum size for a volume is 2,000 Gigabytes (2TB).

  • You can create as many volumes as you wish.

  • Volumes can be located on internal and external hard drives, USB drives, memory sticks, CDs, DVDs and network servers.

  • Every volume has a password which can be changed at any time.

  • Volumes can be securely backed up to other drives or DVDs.

  • When your files are saved inside a volume, they are protected by your password and super-strong encryption.

  • When you move a file out of a volume, it is no longer protected by SafeHouse Explorer.

Using SafeHouse Explorer

Using SafeHouse Explorer couldn't be easier. It works just like Windows Explorer - just drag and drop.

The steps below demonstrate everything you need to know.

Step 1. Create Your Secure Volumes

Click the New Volume button to create new SafeHouse private storage volumes. You'll be prompted for their size, location and password.

Volumes are empty when first created. The next step shows how to open them up and add your files.

Step 2. Open Volumes using your Password

Click the Open Volume button to open your volumes and gain access to your protected files. You'll be prompted for the volume file to open - just look for the bright red folder icons.

SafeHouse Explorer will ask you to enter your secret password before showing your files. You can change your password at any time.

Step 3. Work with your Files

SafeHouse Explorer uses a familiar drag-and-drop interface.

Files dragged onto the surface from Windows Explorer are protected. Files dragged off back to Explorer are not protected.

Keep in mind that when you copy files into SafeHouse Explorer, the original remains in place until you remove it. We recommend using our Secure Delete feature which is designed to remove all traces of unwanted files.

Step 4. Close when Finished

When you're done working with your files, click the Close Volume button to lock them back up. Closed volumes are safe and secure.


How SafeHouse Explorer Works

If you're new to SafeHouse Explorer or using file protection products in general, we encourage you to spend a moment and read through this section. As simple as SafeHouse is, a basic understanding of the product will help everything else make better sense.

SafeHouse Explorer is very easy to use. If you're at all familiar with dragging and dropping files between Windows Explorer windows, then you already know how to use SafeHouse Explorer, because it's used exactly the same -- with the obvious addition of the using a password to control access to your files.

Incredibly Simple Software

SafeHouse Explorer In Action Video

See SafeHouse Explorer in action and you'll instantly agree that this software is incredibly easy to use; even for novice computer users. Watch video...

The One-Minute Overview...

This section quickly touches on some of the fundamental concepts used by SafeHouse.

Don't worry, you don't need to be a computer expert to use this software or figure out how it works. Like driving a car, you don't need to know how the engine works. You just need to know that it does.

We believe if you take a minute or two now to review some of the concepts behind this product, it will help you better understand the software and how it's designed to safeguard your files.

Please skim over these few short topics. We guarantee you'll find them meaningful.

Recommended Topics

These links will take you to very-brief explanations of some of SafeHouse Explorer's core concepts.

  • Where SafeHouse Explorer Keeps your Files

  • How to Access your Protected Files

  • What is Encryption?

  • Tips for using SafeHouse Explorer with Memory Sticks


Where SafeHouse Keeps your Files

SafeHouse keeps your confidential files in large protected container files which can range in size from a few megabytes to hundreds of gigabytes. In a way, they're sort of like folders.

Some people like to refer to these special files as safes or data vaults, because each one is protected using a password known only to you. In SafeHouse, we call these files "volumes", which is simply a fancy term which has gained popularity over time for describing this kind of technology.

Once you move your files into one of these containers, they're instantly under the full protection of SafeHouse. SafeHouse only guards files which are contained in volumes.

SafeHouse volumes can hold as many files in them as will fit. And if you do ever run out of room, you can either create any number of additional volumes or use one of our commercial SafeHouse software editions to expand an existing volume.

You must create at least one SafeHouse volume to use SafeHouse Explorer.

SafeHouse Volumes

Here's a few things you should know about SafeHouse volumes:

  • Volumes are standard Windows files. You can view, move or delete them in Explorer just as you would with any other kind of file.

  • The file extension for SafeHouse volumes is .SDSK. You can easily identify them by their distinctive red folder icon (shown above) .

  • The maximum size for a volume is 2,000 Gigabytes, or the size of your hard drive; whichever is less.

  • You can create as many volumes as you wish.

  • Volumes can be located on internal and external hard drives, USB drives, memory sticks, CDs, DVDs and network servers.

  • Every volume has a password. Passwords can be changed as often as desired.

  • Volumes can be securely backed up to other drives, tape or DVDs using standard backup software.

  • Volumes support all drag-and-drop file operations in Windows Explorer.

  • When your files are saved inside a volume, they are protected using super-strong encryption.

  • When you move a file out of a volume, it is no longer protected by SafeHouse.

How are Volumes Created?

Volumes are created using the Create SafeHouse Volume wizard, which is found on the Tools menu of SafeHouse Explorer. You can create new volumes at any time. Make as many as you wish.

Some people like to create separate volumes for each area of work or subject. For example, you might create one for business and accounting, and then another to store your private photos.

See How to Create SafeHouse Volumes.

How do I Put Files into Volumes?

SafeHouse Explorer works nearly identically to Windows Explorer. Once you choose a volume to work with and enter your password, you can freely drag and drop files back and forth between Windows Explorer and SafeHouse's protected storage vaults.

See How to Access Your Files.

Protecting Files Stored on Memory Sticks

SafeHouse Explorer is perfect for protecting files stored on memory sticks. In fact, this is one of the primary uses for the product.

You don't need to do anything special in order to use SafeHouse Explorer with Flash memory sticks. All that's needed is insert your memory stick into your PC and use the Create SafeHouse Volume wizard to instruct SafeHouse Explorer to create a new protected storage vault (volume) on the corresponding Windows drive letter.

SafeHouse really doesn't care where your volumes are located. Just point to them, enter your password, and drag and drop files back and forth. Learn more...


How to Access your Files

Using SafeHouse to access your protected files takes only a few clicks. The only thing you'll need to remember is your password!

Your protected files are stored in SafeHouse volumes. You likely created your first volume when viewing the Quick Start wizard. All you need to do now is open one up with your password and start using it. Once your password is accepted, you'll see a new drive letter show up in Explorer, where you can drag and drop files or do anything else you're familiar with doing in Windows, Explorer or your favorite applications such Microsoft Office.

The steps listed below show how easy it is to access your files and then lock them back up when you're done.

Step 1. Open Your Volume to See Your Files

Click the Open Volume toolbar button and select the SafeHouse volume (vault) you wish to work with. SafeHouse volumes usually have an SDSK file extension and are represented by red folder icons.

Step 2. Enter Your Password

Enter your private password for this volume and press Enter or click Open.

Notice that the description for this volume is shown at the bottom of the dialog.

TIP: If you would prefer to see the letters of your password as you type them, see the Reveal Password option.

Step 3. Work with your Files

Once your password is accepted you'll be presented with a familiar Explorer-like drag-and-drop user interface which allows you to work with your files.

Any files you drag and drop onto the explorer surface will be protected. Files dragged out of SafeHouse Explorer will no longer be protected.

Be careful not to inadvertently leave unprotected copies of sensitive files sitting on your desktop. SafeHouse Explorer offers a secure delete feature which can be used to completely wipe out the contents of old files before they are deleted.

Step 4. Close Volume to Lock Up Your Files

When you are done using your files and want to lock them back up, simply click the Close Volume toolbar button.

Closed volumes cannot be accessed again until you start over with Step 1 and enter your password.


What is Encryption?

SafeHouse uses a technology known as encryption to provide the industrial-strength protection for your files. Encryption is the process of scrambling files and data based on passwords and special keys. This scrambled data can later be returned to its normal state using a companion process known as decryption.

This may sound complicated, and indeed, it is. In fact, it's the same technology used by governments and seen in many spy movies.

The good news is that SafeHouse does all this work in the background. You'll never need to know anything about encryption to use this product.

If it's completely transparent, why mention it?

Now that we've mentioned that you don't need to know anything about encryption, you might wonder why we've even brought it up in the first place. The reason is many people want to know which technologies are used under the hood. Like the anti-lock brakes on your car, you may not know or care how they work, but you do know that they're good to have, and you might only buy cars that have them.

You should only use data privacy products which are based on strong encryption! And don't be fooled. Password protection is not the same as encryption. You already are using passwords to log into Windows, but these passwords are not protecting your files from being snooped. Maybe you already know this -- which is why you chose to use SafeHouse Explorer.

Why can SafeHouse's Encryption be Trusted?

Encryption is complicated stuff. Fortunately, it's a stable technology which is used all over the world in millions of products. The programmers behind SafeHouse Explorer did not invent any new encryption methods which might be subject to scrutiny or challenge. Instead, SafeHouse Explorer incorporates proven, industry-standard encryption algorithms which are in common every-day products and have withstood the test of time.

In fact, SafeHouse Explorer uses some of the same encryption technologies that you already use on a daily basis when you make credit card purchases over the Internet. You've probably come to look for that familiar lock icon in your browser before daring to enter your credit card. We do pretty much the same thing for files. Think of it as merely repackaging.

How Strong is the Encryption?

The encryption strength of the algorithms built into SafeHouse Explorer are some of the strongest available in the commercial world. Most experts agree that the time to crack a 128-bit encryption key using a brute force attack is longer than the entire history of the world, or longer. A brute force attack is one where all possible key combinations are tried until one is found to work. As such, the reality is that this is not how a determined intruder would attempt to gain access to your files -- the seemingly- infinite number of mathematical combinations makes this approach all but impossible.

Dictionary Attacks

A more likely way a knowledgeable intruder would try to get at your files is with what is known as a dictionary attack. This is where they try thousands of strategically-chosen passwords to see if you might have used something like a birth date, pet's name, sports team or word from the English dictionary. Since people tend to be predictable or lazy in how they choose passwords, this kind of attack has a reasonable chance of succeeding when poor passwords are used.

SafeHouse Professional Edition (available separately as a commercial product) helps protect you from dictionary attacks by including its own internal 250,000-word dictionary of common words and phases. If you choose a password which is found in this database, the password strength meter will remain completely red to warn you that the password is extremely vulnerable to attack.

Other Human Factors

Given the strength of modern-day encryption technologies, the truth is that most intruders are well-aware that trying to break the encryption is generally pointless. Dictionary attacks have merit when short passwords are used, but the easiest breaks of all are based on human factors. People invariably write passwords on sticky notes taped to their machines, or write their PIN codes on the back of smartcards. Computers are left on and unlocked when people go to lunch. And unfortunately, there's always the threat of violence. More often than not, intruders find that exploiting the vulnerabilities of human behavior is the fastest path to your data.

Which Encryption Standards does SafeHouse Support?

We've tried to spare you the details, but if you really need to know, below is a list of the industry-standard encryption technologies which are incorporated into the SafeHouse product line.

  • Advanced Encryption Standard, also known as AES and Rijndael, 128 and 256 bits

  • Twofish, 128 and 256 bits

  • Blowfish, 448 bits

  • Data Encryption Standards, also known as DES, 64 bits

  • Triple DES, 168 bits

SafeHouse Explorer generally uses 256-bit Twofish encryption; however, when SafeHouse Professional Edition is installed on the same machine, SafeHouse Explorer is then able to automatically offer some of the additional encryption methods found only in the Professional Edition.

SafeHouse Professional Edition defaults to using 256-bit Twofish encryption, however, you can choose amongst the other methods by selecting the advanced options mode on the Create Volume wizard.


How to Perform Basic Tasks

Use these links to quickly learn how to perform simple tasks using SafeHouse Explorer.

How to Open Volumes

How to Close Volumes

How to Create a New Volume

How to Change a Password

How to Resize a Volume

How to View Volume Properties

How to Check Volume Integrity

How to Prepare a Memory Stick

How to Make Self-Extracting Volumes

How to Securely Delete Files

Working with Files and Folders

SafeHouse Explorer supports all familiar file and folder actions such as drag and drop, cut and paste, open, delete and other standard menu commands.

Generally speaking, working with files and folders in SafeHouse Explorer is identical to working with files and folders in Windows Explorer. You can drag an drop back and forth between SafeHouse Explorer and Windows Explorer and even between instances of SafeHouse Explorer.

Right Click on Files and Folders

Right click on files and folders to display a popup menu of available actions.

Secure Move using Drag and Drop

A feature unique to SafeHouse Explorer which you will not find in Windows Explorer is Secure Move using drag and drop. When you drag files into SafeHouse Explorer while holding the right mouse button down, in addition to the traditional copy/move actions presented in the popup menu, you'll also be offered the option to perform a Secure Move.

Secure Move is functionally similar to Move, however, it also performs a secure delete on the source files to make sure that once delete they cannot be recovered. This entails writing over them with random data before they are finally deleted in Windows, which has the effect of foiling file recovery tools which might later be used by intruders attempting to access your deleted files.

Personalization

SafeHouse Explorer includes a few simple personalization options. You can switch between a variety of views or presentation formats in the right-hand file pane using the Views toolbar button. You can also make adjustments to the toolbar itself by clicking on the tiny arrow at the right end of the toolbar.

Finally, you'll notice that the menu and toolbar are detachable and can be dragged to different positions with your mouse. The program remembers the sizes and positions of most interface elements, including the main window, and restores them on subsequent invocations.


How to Open Volumes

SafeHouse Explorer provides several ways for you to open the volumes containing your private files.

Open your volumes using:

  • SafeHouse Explorer File menu

  • SafeHouse Explorer toolbar button

  • Windows Explorer

Opening Volumes using the File Menu or Toolbar Button

Follow these simple steps to open or unlock a SafeHouse encrypted storage volume.

  1. Choose File | Open Volume or click the Open Volume toolbar button.

  2. In the Windows file picker, select the existing volume file you wish to work with.

  3. Enter your password and press Enter or click Open.

TIP: If you would prefer to see the letters of your password as you type them, right click on the window caption and select the Reveal Password option.

Opening Volumes using Windows Explorer

SafeHouse also allows you to open volumes using Windows Explorer.

SafeHouse volume files can be identified in Explorer by their distinctive red folder icon shown here on the left. Their default location is typically C:\SafeHouse, however you could choose to store them anywhere, including on other disk drives, memory sticks or even CD/DVDs.

To open volumes using Windows Explorer, either:

  • Double-click the red folder icon corresponding to the volume file.

  • Right click on the red folder icon and choose the Open Volume menu item.

Both methods have the same result, which is to display the familiar red password entry dialog.

You can also open a volume by dragging and dropping it onto the SafeHouse Explorer file pane.

Desktop Shortcuts

SafeHouse Explorer can be referenced in Windows desktop shortcuts using a syntax similar to that shown below. In this example, the referenced volume will automatically be launched and you'll be prompted for its password.

Target

"C:\Program Files\SafeHouseExplorer\SafeHouseExplorer.exe" "C:\SafeHouse\SafeHouse.sdsk"

Windows Drive Letters

Here's an important tip. When you open a volume with SafeHouse Explorer's performance enhancements installed, a Windows drive letter is temporarily assigned to the volume. You'll see this new drive show up under My Computer along with all of your other drives.

The primary advantage to having volumes being accessible through drive letters is that you can then easily read and write directly to volumes from nearly any standard Windows application.


How to Close Volumes

Closed volumes are completely locked up and inaccessible until you once again open them using your password.

To close an open volume, click the Close Volume toolbar button or select the File | Close Volume menu option.

SafeHouse Explorer automatically closes any open volume upon program termination. As such, you cannot leave a volume open by mistake. As long as SafeHouse Explorer is shut down, your volumes will be closed and inaccessible until you once again open them up using your password.

Other SafeHouse Editions

If you have any other companion SafeHouse software running on the same PC at the same time, please note that some of the other SafeHouse software products have their own features and characteristics when it comes to opening and closing volumes.


Changing Volume Passwords

SafeHouse volume passwords can be changed as often as desired using the Change Password dialog shown below.

Volumes must be closed in order to change their password.

Choosing Strong Passwords

Be careful when you choose your passwords.

Do:

  • Choose long passwords. We recommend at least 10 or more characters.

  • Mix in upper and lower case letters, numbers and punctuation symbols.

Don't:

  • Use your name, pet name or child's name.

  • Use some number or date readily identifiable with your life or family members.

  • Use passwords shorter than 8 to 10 characters. The more the better.

  • Use common words found in the dictionary unless combined with other numbers and symbols.

  • Write your password on a sticky note taped to your monitor. Yes, people do this all the time.

How to Launch this Dialog:

  1. Start SafeHouse Explorer.

  2. Choose Change SafeHouse Password from the Tools menu.

Type your new password and click the Finish button to accept.

Folder

Point SafeHouse to the folder or disk drive which contains your volume file. Use the folder icon to the right to browse for the correct folder.

Volume

Choose the SafeHouse volume file to have its password changed. This drop list will display all SafeHouse volumes located in the above-named folder.

If the volume you're interested in is listed, but in dim or light text, this indicates that the volume is presently open. Please close it before trying to change its password.

NOTE: SafeHouse volumes must be closed in order to change their passwords.

Strength Meter

This password strength meter operates as a guide to help you choose strong passwords that are difficult to guess. The bar will turn green as you choose better passwords.

This meter is only a guide. We cannot guarantee with any certainty that specific passwords will never be guessed.

Old Password

Type your old password to prove you are the rightful owner of this volume.

If you are using a smartcard, SafeHouse will automatically read your old password from the smartcard and fill in this field.

New Password & Retype

Choose your new password and then type it again in the field below. Passwords are case sensitive, up to 255 characters.

TIP: Don't use common words that are easy to guess. Mix in some upper or lower case letters, numbers and punctuation symbols.

Lost Passwords

In its default configuration, SafeHouse Explorer does not include any facility to reset lost passwords.

However, when used in combination with SafeHouse Professional Edition, there is an ability for system administrators to reset lost SafeHouse volume passwords, but only if this feature was enabled prior to creating your volume. Use of the password management features requires a license for SafeHouse Professional Edition. Please see the Administrator's Guide in the SafeHouse Professional Edition user's manual for more information.

Please do not call us when you lose your password. We have absolutely no ability to recover lost passwords.


How to Create a New Volume

The Create SafeHouse Volume wizard is used to create the container files which will house your private files being protected by SafeHouse.

This wizard will walk you through steps of picking a name, location, size and password.

What are Volumes?

SafeHouse keeps your confidential files in large protected container files which can range in size from a few megabytes to hundreds of gigabytes. In a way, they're sort of like folders.

Some people like to refer to these special files as safes or data vaults, because each one is protected using a password known only to you. In SafeHouse, we call these files "volumes", which is simply a fancy term which has gained popularity over time for describing this kind of technology.

Once you move your files into one of these containers, they're instantly under the full protection of SafeHouse. SafeHouse only guards files which are contained in volumes.

SafeHouse volumes can hold as many files in them as will fit. And if you do ever run out of room, you can easily make your volumes bigger. You likely created your first volume when you installed the software; however, there's really no limit to the number of volumes you can create.

Where are Volumes Located?

SafeHouse typically keeps your volumes in one common folder to make them easier to work with. This folder is named C:\SafeHouse.

Volumes can be located nearly anywhere, including:

  • Internal and external hard drives

  • USB Flash disks and memory sticks

  • Network servers

Volumes on CD/DVD: SafeHouse volumes cannot be created directly on CD/R and DVD/R devices, but can be read from them as read-only storage vaults.

How to Launch this Dialog:

  1. Start SafeHouse Explorer.

  2. Click the New Volume toolbar button or Create New SafeHouse Volume item from the Tools menu.

Additional Wizard Pages

This wizard will advance through the following series of pages:

  • Name of Private Storage Area

  • Size of Your Private Storage Area

  • Choose a Volume Password

  • Ready to Create Volume

More on SafeHouse Volumes

Here's a few things you should know about SafeHouse volumes:

  • Volumes are standard Windows files. You can view, move or delete them in Explorer just as you would with any other kind of file.

  • The file extension for SafeHouse volumes is .SDSK. You can easily identify them by their distinctive red folder icon (shown above) .

  • The maximum size for a volume is 2,000 Gigabytes, or the size of your hard drive; whichever is less.

  • You can create as many volumes as you wish.

  • Volumes can be located on internal and external hard drives, USB drives, memory sticks, CDs, DVDs and network servers.

  • Every volume has a password. Passwords can be changed as often as desired.

  • Volumes can be securely backed up to other drives, tape or DVDs using standard backup software.

  • Windows will treat your volumes as new "virtual" hard drives which are only accessible once you enter your password.

  • Volumes support all drag-and-drop file operations in Windows Explorer.

  • When your files are saved inside a volume, they are protected using super-strong encryption.

  • When you move a file out of a volume, it is no longer protected by SafeHouse.

SafeHouse Professional Edition

SafeHouse Professional Edition offers a number of extra features for creating new volumes. This includes greater control of resizing properties, stronger encryption methods and support for resetting lost passwords.

If SafeHouse Explorer detects that SafeHouse Professional Edition is installed on the same PC, it will automatically use the enhanced version of the Create New Volume wizard which is included with that software. You will therefore automatically receive the benefit of any of these advanced features.


Name of Private Storage Area

SafeHouse volumes are large container files which hold your files needing to be protected. Volumes are standard Windows files which use the .SDSK file extension.

All volumes must have a name and location.

Folder

Choose the folder where your new volume should be located. Click the folder icon on the right to browser to a different location.

SafeHouse typically keeps your volumes in one common folder to make them easier to work with. This folder is named C:\SafeHouse.

Volumes can be located nearly anywhere, including:

  • Internal and external hard drives

  • USB Flash disks and memory sticks

  • Network servers

NOTE: SafeHouse volumes cannot be created directly on CD/RW and DVD/RW devices. Volumes are compatible with these devices only in read-only mode.

Filename

Choose a filename for your volume.

Your new volume will be created using this name in the folder specified above. SafeHouse volumes are readily-identified in Explorer by their distinctive red icon shown here on the left.

SafeHouse will add the .SDSK volume file extension to the name you specify here.

Description

Optionally type a short description for your volume. The text you type here will be displayed in the following SafeHouse dialogs:

  • At the bottom of the red password entry dialog (shown below).

  • In all SafeHouse tools dialogs where you are asked to select a volume.

Example:

You volume description is displayed at the bottom of this dialog. In this case, the description entered was "My Private Files".


Size of Your Private Storage Area

Please choose the size for your volume. The maximum size for volumes is 2,000GB.

The size that's best for you really depends on what you're planning to do with it. If you're storing mostly Word documents and spreadsheets, 1GB might be more space than you'll ever need. On the other hand, if you're storing photos and videos, then you might need quite a bit more.

As a rule of thumb, the amount of space needed for files saved in SafeHouse volumes is about the same as the amount of space those same files would take when saved to your standard hard drive.

Also, keep in mind that you can create as many volumes as you need; each being different sizes. In fact, many people create separate volumes for each subject or area of work.

The Next button will be enabled only once you've entered acceptable sizing information.

Volume Size

Please choose the starting size for your volume.

Volumes cannot be larger than your currently-available drive space shown at the bottom of the dialog.

Please note that older Windows operating systems (Windows 95/98/Me) and hard drives formatted using the FAT file system do not support file sizes greater than 4GB. This is a limitation of Windows, not SafeHouse. If this wizard prevents you from choosing a size greater than 4GB, you've likely run up against this limitation.

Resizable

Please choose the size range for your volume. It is generally advisable to pick a range that gives your volume plenty of room to grow just in case you find it necessary to expand your volume in the future. SafeHouse includes features to resize volumes after they're created, but only within the range you specify here.

It's okay to specify a maximum potential size that is greater than the size of your current hard drive. The space is not being allocated at this time. All you're doing here is telling SafeHouse that someday you might want this volume to get so big, which allows SafeHouse organize the file to accommodate this possibility.

Windows places some restrictions on the specific sizes allowed for hard drives. This drop list will only contain ranges which are valid on your system.

Please note that SafeHouse Explorer does not itself contain the logic to resize volumes. Although resizing parameters may be entered here, either SafeHouse Personal Edition or SafeHouse Professional Edition is required to change the size of an existing volume.

Preinitialize Volume with Random Data

Choosing this option instructs SafeHouse to fill the volume with random data. The benefit of doing so is that it creates another barrier for intruders because it becomes much harder for them to separate the real data from the random data when attempting to home in on your files.

Filling extra-large volumes with random data can sometimes take a few minutes. SafeHouse tries to provide an estimate of this time at the right of this field.

We recommend that you leave this box checked unless the time estimate is not acceptable to you.


Choose a Volume Password

Please choose the starting password for your volume. You can change your password as often as desired.

Choosing Strong Passwords

Be careful when you choose your passwords.

Do:

  • Choose long passwords. We recommend at least 10 or more characters.

  • Mix in upper and lower case letters, numbers and punctuation symbols.

Don't:

  • Use your name, pet name or child's name.

  • Use some number or date readily identifiable with your life or family members.

  • Use passwords shorter than 8 to 10 characters. The more the better.

  • Use common words found in the dictionary unless combined with other numbers and symbols.

  • Write your password on a sticky note taped to your monitor. Yes, people do this all the time.

The Next button will be enabled only once you've entered an acceptable password.

Strength Meter

This password strength meter operates as a guide to help you choose strong passwords that are difficult to guess. The bar will turn green as you choose better passwords.

This meter is only a guide. We cannot guarantee with any certainty that specific passwords will never be guessed.

Password Dictionary - SafeHouse Professional Only

SafeHouse Professional includes a 250,000-word dictionary of common passwords, names, places, words and phrases which are easily guessed by intruders using commonly-available hacker dictionaries. If you choose a password found in the SafeHouse dictionary, the meter bar will remain all red to indicate that it's extremely vulnerable to dictionary attacks. After all, if it's in our dictionary, you can pretty much assume it will also be listed in the list of passwords to try by any determined intruder.

The term "dictionary attack" refers to a common practice by hackers of trying every word in the English dictionary, or some combination of available dictionaries. These attacks can be performed by automated software and run very quickly. In short, don't choose single words from the dictionary as your password.

Password

Choose your password and then type it again in the field below. Passwords are case sensitive, up to 255 characters.

Retype

Retype your chosen password here to make sure it's what you think it is.

Lost Passwords

In its default configuration, SafeHouse Explorer does not include any facility to reset lost passwords.

However, when used in combination with SafeHouse Professional Edition, there is an ability for system administrators to reset lost SafeHouse volume passwords, but only if this feature was enabled prior to creating your volume. Use of the password management features requires a license for SafeHouse Professional Edition. Please see the Administrator's Guide in the SafeHouse Professional Edition user's manual for more information.

Please do not call us when you lose your password. We have absolutely no ability to recover lost passwords.


Ready to Create Volume

SafeHouse now has all the information it needs to create your volume.

Click the Create Volume button to begin.

Create a Desktop Shortcut

When you check this box, SafeHouse will place a shortcut for opening this volume directly onto your desktop. This is simply a convenience to help make working with this volume just that much easier.

If you leave this box unchecked, you can still open your volume in any of the ways described in How to Open Volumes.

Create Volume Button

Click the Create Volume button to begin creating your new volume.

The time required to complete this step depends on how big your volume is, and whether or not you chose to preinitialize the volume with random data.

When done, click the Finish button to exit.


How to Resize Volumes

Use the Resize SafeHouse Volume wizard to change the size of your SafeHouse volumes.

Once you select a volume and enter its password, this wizard will let you know what size ranges are supported by the selected volume. Please note that the maximum size for volumes is determined by a preference setting when volumes are initially created. You will not be allowed to grow a volume to a size larger than the maximum size you chose back when creating this volume file. This restriction is related to the internal structure of the "virtual" disk drive being presented to Window..

NOTE: This feature is available only when either SafeHouse Personal Edition or Professional Edition is also installed on your PC. This menu item simply launches the resizing wizard which is a standard feature in these other companion SafeHouse products.

How to Launch this Dialog:

  1. Start SafeHouse Explorer.

  2. Choose Resize SafeHouse Volume from the Tools menu.

Once you authenticate yourself as having rightful access to the volume, you'll be given the opportunity to choose a new size within the limits originally set when the volume was first created.


How to View or Change Volume Properties

SafeHouse Explorer allows you to view the properties of any open volume simply by clicking the Properties tab. Properties are read-only within SafeHouse Explorer. If you wish to change any of these properties, then you must use SafeHouse Personal Edition or Professional Edition.

How to Display this Tab:

  1. Start SafeHouse Explorer and open an existing volume.

  2. Choose Docking Pane | Properties from the View menu.

  3. Click the Properties tab shown circled in the image below.

The values shown in the Properties tab are mostly established when volumes are created; although a few, such as available space, are adjusted in real time. Some values are meaningful only for volumes created by one of our other SafeHouse product editions which provide additional features not available in the freely-distributable SafeHouse Explorer software.

Change Volume Properties

You can change the underlying properties of your SafeHouse volumes using the SafeHouse Show Volume Properties dialog. You probably won't need to use this feature that often, but it's good to have when you need it.

NOTE: This feature is available only when either SafeHouse Personal Edition or Professional Edition is also installed on your PC. This menu item simply launches the properties wizard which is a standard feature in these other companion SafeHouse products.

How to Launch this Dialog:

  1. Start SafeHouse Explorer.

  2. Choose SafeHouse Volume Properties from the Tools menu.


How to Prepare a Memory Stick

Use the Copy Files to Memory Stick menu option to prepare a memory stick to be used with SafeHouse.

The only thing your need to do to use SafeHouse Explorer with memory sticks is place a copy of the program file onto your memory stick along with a copy of one more volumes. Although you can certainly do this using Windows Explorer with just a few mouse clicks, we've made it even easier with this convenient tool which automatically finds the right files copies them to your memory stick.

Learn more about using SafeHouse Explorer with memory sticks.

U3 Smart Drives

If you are a fan of U3 Smart Drives (see U3.com), then you'll be happy to know that we also have a version of SafeHouse Explorer designed specifically for U3. It's actually the same program -- only packaged in a different installer to meet the setup requirements for U3 devices. The U3 version is a free download at SafeHouseSoftware.com.


Making Self-Extracting Volumes

Use the Make Self-Extracting Volume menu option to turn a standard volume into a volume which can run on its own.

A self-extracting volume does not need SafeHouse Explorer for access. All it needs is your password. They are Windows EXE files which include both an embedded copy of SafeHouse Explorer and your volume.

SafeHouse self-extracting volumes are smart files which allow you to access your private data without the need for any extra software -- not even SafeHouse Explorer. These files have an EXE file extension which allows them to be run like any other Windows program -- just click on them. Then, assuming you enter the correct password, you'll be presented with a thin copy of SafeHouse Explorer with full drag-and-drop access to all of your files.

Self-extracting volumes are created from within the normal version of SafeHouse Explorer using the Make Self-Extracting Volume item on the Tools menu. The tool works by making a copy of SafeHouse Explorer and then attaching to it a copy of one of your existing volumes.

The initial password for self-extracting volumes is the same as the original volume from which it was copied from. You can later change the password as often as desired just by opening up the volume.

The maximum size for self-extracting volumes sis 3GB.

Slim Version of SafeHouse Explorer

Self-extracting volumes have a slimmed down copy of SafeHouse Explorer attached to them. This keeps the user interface down to just the bare essentials so that people receiving self-extracting volumes for the first time will find them easy to use.

Self-extracting volumes will take advantage of the SafeHouse high-performance device driver when it's already present on your PC. These volumes can also be accessed just fine without our driver being installed. The thin version of SafeHouse Explorer will adapt to provide the richest experience possible given what it finds available on the host PC.

Changing Passwords

Self-extracting volumes include a Change Password tool found under the application's File menu. You must close the volume in order to be allowed to change the password.

Distributing Sensitive Files

SafeHouse self-extracting volumes are perfect for distributing your sensitive files to others who may not already have SafeHouse Explorer. All they'll need is for you to tell them the password.

Secure Email Attachments

Self-extracting volumes can easily be attached to emails. The only thing you need to be careful about is that since these files are EXE files, many email readers (including Outlook) will block them. The simple cure is to put the volume inside a zip file since nearly all email readers allow zip files to pass through without alteration.

If you are planning to distribute volumes by email, it's best to make them only as big as needed.

And of course, never include the password in the same email as the secure attachment!

Secure Archives on DVD

A popular application of SafeHouse's self-extracting volumes is to use them for making secure DVDs. Your files can then be accessed directly from the DVD without needing any other software -- not even SafeHouse Explorer!

Compatibility Notes

Resetting Passwords

Resetting passwords is an important capability in our SafeHouse Professional Edition and these features are fully compatible with SafeHouse Explorer if you choose to enable them.

Providing you have enabled password resets in advance, if you subsequently find it necessary to reset a password on a volume contained in a self-extracting EXE file, you'll need to extract the volume out back into a normal SDSK volume file. Once you've got a standard volume file, you can use the administrator password reset tools in SafeHouse Professional Edition just as you would with any other volume.

Volumes can be extracted out of EXE files using a menu selection found on the SafeHouse Explorer Tools menu.


How to Securely Delete Files

Secure Delete is a feature included with SafeHouse Explorer which makes it easy for you to completely and truly delete files. When you delete files the "normal" way in Windows, the data from those files still exists somewhere on your hard drive. This can be very helpful when you've deleted something by mistake and need to recover it from your recycle bin; however, it also makes it easy for intruders to view the contents of these files which you may have thought were long-since deleted.

The Secure Delete feature works by overwriting files about to be deleted with random data patterns. This process completely destroys any wipes clean anything these files may have previously contained. Nobody, including law enforcement or the most-determined hackers, will be able to recover the contents of these files. Of course, this also means that if you securely delete files by mistake, that they will be forever gone and unrecoverable by even the most-sophisticated file recovery tools available.

The Secure Delete feature only works from within SafeHouse Explorer. Files you delete normally using Windows Explorer are not wiped clean as they would be when using SafeHouse Explorer.

How to Delete Files or Folders:

  1. Start SafeHouse Explorer.

  2. Choose Secure Delete from the File menu.

  3. Select any number of files and folders in the standard Windows file chooser dialog.

  4. Confirm your intent to permanently delete the selected items.

You will see a series of progress meters displayed on screen as SafeHouse Explorer makes several passes through the selected set of files. During each pass, SafeHouse Explorer will overwrite the file with a different pattern. Files are then deleted.

You can adjust the amount of times your files are overwritten with random data using a preference setting on the Options dialog.

Can Securely Deleted Files be Recovered?

No, once a file is securely deleted, the data it contained is gone forever.

At this point, even if an intruder did gain access to your PC and attempted to use a commercial file recovery product to restore your deleted files, all they would see is the last random pattern written over the files. And by writing over files with multiple patterns, this technique thwarts even the sophisticated file recovery and analysis machines used by special agencies.

Secure Move using Drag and Drop

When you drag and drop files into SafeHouse Explorer from Windows Explorer while holding down the right mouse button, you'll be offered the option to perform a Secure Move. This option provides additional protection by performing a secure delete on the old files before they are finally deleted in Windows once the move is complete.

What About Windows Page Files and Hibernation Files?

SafeHouse Explorer does not perform any actions on your Windows page file (pagefile.sys) or hibernation file (hiberfil.sys). These are system files used by Windows to work with memory swapping and hibernation. If you're not familiar with these special files, what's important to know is that these files can contain the contents of your PC's memory at various points in time, and it's possible that Windows might have flushed memory fragments from recently-viewed sensitive documents out to one of these files in order to free up memory.

SafeHouse Explorer does not touch these files since doing so could interrupt the normal operation of Windows.


Checking Volume Integrity

SafeHouse volumes are internally formatted similarly to standard Windows disk drives. As such, they exhibit many of the same characteristics as traditional disk drives and can even be tested and verified in much the same way.

SafeHouse Explorer includes a tool to check the internal integrity of volume files which functionally mimics the Check Disk feature in Windows.

How to Check Volumes:

  1. Close all volumes.

  2. Choose Check Volume from the Tools menu.

  3. Select the volume to be checked.

  4. Click the Start button.

Please note that this feature works only with volumes formatted using SafeHouse Explorer's default FATxx disk format. If you have manually reformatted your volume to NTFS or some other disk format, then you will need to use some alternate method to check your volumes, such as the tools which are built into Windows.

Checking Volumes using Windows' Built-in Tools

When SafeHouse Explorer is run with its performance enhancements installed, open volumes are associated with a Windows drive letter. You'll see the icon for this virtual drive in My Computer alongside all your other drives, and you can right click on that icon to gain access to the standard Windows drive tools. If you open the drive's Properties dialog, the Tools tab includes features to check for errors and defragment drives.

Please note that checking volumes using Windows' built-in tools works only the first time you open a volume in Windows after starting your PC. We understand this may seem odd or inconvenient, which is why SafeHouse Explorer also includes its own volume integrity checking features.


Tips and Tricks

Tips and Tricks for SafeHouse Explorer

Below are a number of topics with additional tips and tricks for using SafeHouse Explorer.

  • Working with Memory Sticks

  • Sending Secure Email Attachments

  • Working with DVDs

  • Read-only Volume Files

  • Reveal Passwords as Typed


Working with Memory Sticks

SafeHouse Explorer is just what you need to protect sensitive information stored on memory sticks. The topics below will explain both how to protect your files and access them from other computers which do not already have SafeHouse Explorer installed on them.

Although these instructions refer specifically to memory sticks, the same concepts apply to any portable media or external hard drive.

Protecting Files Stored on Memory Sticks

As you may already know, SafeHouse Explorer keeps your files hidden away inside encrypted containers called volumes. These volumes can be located anywhere, including on memory sticks.

The two most-common ways to put a volume onto a memory stick are:

  • Create the volume directly on your memory stick by pointing to the device's drive letter when SafeHouse Explorer's Create New Volume wizard prompts you for the location.

  • Use Windows Explorer to copy an existing volume file to your memory stick.

Everything else works exactly the same as described in this user's manual. SafeHouse Explorer simply doesn't care where your volumes are located. Just point to them and enter your password.

You can even store more than one volume on the same memory stick. The only real limit you'll face is that your volume files cannot exceed the available space on your device.

Running SafeHouse Explorer from a Memory Stick

One of the most exciting features of SafeHouse Explorer is that it can be run directly from your memory stick without being installed onto the computer you are using. This is especially important when you're attempting to access your private files from other peoples' computers and they won't allow you to install third-party software.

The easy way to copy SafeHouse Explorer to your memory stick is to this simple dialog to prepare a memory stick. All you'll need to do is insert your memory stick and let SafeHouse Explorer do all the work.

Alternatively, you can do this manually using Windows Explorer using the steps outlined below.

Follow these steps put SafeHouse Explorer onto your memory stick:

  1. Install SafeHouse Explorer normally onto your own computer using the standard setup program which can be downloaded from our website.

  2. Insert your memory stick into one of your USB ports.

  3. Locate the main SafeHouse program file, typically found here: C:\Program Files\SafeHouseExplorer\SafeHouseExplorer.exe

  4. Copy the SafeHouseExplorer.exe file to your memory stick. Just drag and drop using Windows Explorer.

That's it. This single file is all you need.

How to run SafeHouse Explorer from your memory stick:

  1. Insert your memory stick and open up a window showing its files.

  2. Double-click the SafeHouseExplorer.exe file (red padlock icon).

When run this way, SafeHouse Explorer does not install any files onto the computer's main hard drive. You'll be asked to accept the license agreement the first time SafeHouse Explorer is run on a new PC.

Optionally Install Performance Enhancements

Although not required, SafeHouse Explorer can run faster and with greater compatibility with other Windows applications if you install its performance enhancement options. The first time you run the software on a new machine the Quick Start wizard will give you an opportunity to install these extra features.

Please note that installing these enhancements requires SafeHouse Explorer to install several files onto the computer's main hard drive. If you are using someone else's computer, you may need to obtain permission to install these optional files. This, of course, is the reason why they're optional. We recognize that you will not always be able to get permission to install files and that you will often be accessing your data from public computers which are locked down tight.


Sending Secure Email Attachments

SafeHouse Explorer makes it easy to send secure email attachments using any email application, including Outlook and popular webmail tools. SafeHouse volumes are ordinary Windows files and can be attached to emails in the same way as you attach any other file.

Of course, you obviously would not want to include the password to an attached volume inside the same email, so you'll need to find some alternate method for letting the recipient know the password. You also need to consider that the recipient may not already have SafeHouse Explorer installed, and you might want to include a link to the free SafeHouse Explorer download page.

Follow these steps send a secure email attachment:

  1. Create a volume large enough to hold the files you wish to send, but not too large.

  2. Open the volume and add your confidential files.

  3. Close the volume and add attach it to your email.

  4. Include a link in your email to the free SafeHouse Explorer download page.

  5. Find some way to communicate the password to your recipient (such as by phone).

Compressed File Attachments

You'll generally find that SafeHouse volumes do not compress all that well. The reason for this is that encryption by nature yields results which are not easily compressed because character sequences found in ordinary text will no longer exist once encrypted.

One thing you can do to help a little in this area is to not pre-initialize new volumes with random data. Random data may be great for helping to foil intruders, but it's hard to compress. Don't worry, turning this feature off will not reduce the protection of your files. It's simply an additional tool which provides yet one more way to frustrate intruders on top of an already-secure encryption system.

Where disabling this feature might help is that unused portions of your volume will easily compress. If you create a volume which is 10MB and then only fill it with 2MB worth of files, the unused 8MB area will compress nicely; meaning that the final compressed size of the volume will be closer to 2MB rather than 10MB.


Working with DVDs

Protecting files stored on CD/DVDs is easy with SafeHouse Explorer. You can even access your volumes directly from a DVD using SafeHouse Explorer.

SafeHouse volumes are ordinary Windows files and can be burned or copied to CDs and DVDs using the same procedures you use for any other kind of file.

Follow these steps encrypt files on DVDs:

  1. Create a temporary volume on your main hard drive large enough to hold the files you wish to send, but not so large if won't fit on your DVD.

  2. Open the volume and add your confidential files.

  3. Close the volume.

  4. Use your standard DVD-maker software to burn or copy the volume file to your DVD.

  5. Delete the temporary volume when you're done.

We also recommend that you include a copy of the SafeHouse Explorer setup program or the main program file on your DVD just to make sure it's always available to you whenever you access the DVD in the future.

Passwords

Of course it goes without saying that you should not write your password on the DVD!

Re-Writable DVD Media

SafeHouse Explorer is not generally compatible with DVDs in read-write mode.

We do not recommend attempting to open and update volumes stored on RW+ media. Once you copy a volume onto a CD or DVD, you should only open it for reading. For traditional write-once CD/DVDs, your burner software will automatically mark the volume files as read only. For re-writable media, you may need to use Windows Explorer to set the volume to read only (via the file properties tab).


Read-Only Volume Files

Any Windows file can be marked as being read-only. This means that Windows will not allow any writing to that file.

This setting, which is viewed and changed using Explorer, is fully honored by SafeHouse. As such, if your volume file is marked as read-only, you will still be able to open it, but you will not be able to update any of the files, nor add new files or delete files.

The dialog below shows where this setting is found in Explorer.

If you want full read/write access to your volume, this checkbox must be clear.

Conversely, if you want to ensure that nothing inside the volume can be updated, you should check the read-only checkbox.

To display this dialog:

  1. Locate your SafeHouse volume file using Windows Explorer.

  2. Right click on the file to see the popup menu of available actions.

  3. Choose the Properties menu item.


Reveal Password as Typed

To see your passwords as they are typed into this password entry dialog, right click on the window caption and select the Reveal Password option. Unchheck this item to turn this feature off.

A shortcut to do the same thing is to double-click on the red background of the dialog. Each double-click action toggles the revealed password state.

SafeHouse will remember this state until you personally change it back.

Reveal State Indicator

When the reveal password state is enabled, each time you display this dialog you'll see this <Visible> text in the password entry field.

This text disappears as you type your first character. This way, you'll never mistakenly start typing a visible password when you know people are close by. And if somebody is close by, a quick double-click on the red dialog background toggles this state back to hidden passwords.


Options and Preferences

SafeHouse Explorer includes a few options and preferences which you might want to be aware of. These are explained below.

Options are set using the Options dialog:

  • Choose Tools | Options from the main menu.

SafeHouse Integration

SafeHouse Explorer has the ability to detect that another SafeHouse product is installed and automatically add new menu options which allow you to take advantage of some additional features. Please check the Integrate with other SafeHouse products box to allow this automatic integration. This checkbox also controls whether or not the software will use the optional performance enhancements described below.

We recommend that you keep this box checked unless you have a specific reason for leaving it unchecked.

Another interesting aspect of this automatic integration with other SafeHouse products is that the Create New Volume and Change Password wizards will be replaced by the slightly more-powerful wizards available in our other software. This is especially useful with SafeHouse Professional Edition which includes a number of desirable features for business users, including password management and policy controls.

Performance Enhancements

SafeHouse Explorer will operate faster and with greater compatibility with your favorite Windows applications if you install its performance enhancements.

This set of features requires the use of a special kind of file called a device driver. For security reasons, Windows only allows administrators to install device drivers. If you're running a machine from home, you'll almost always be your own administrator; however, in work environments, this level of access might require assistance from your IT department.

When you install SafeHouse Explorer using its traditional setup utility, we know you have administrator rights and these enhancements are installed automatically. However, if you are running the software directly from a memory stick on some other computer, you may find it helpful to be able to install these enhancements on demand using the Install Performance Enhancements link. This link will be disabled when the enhancements are already installed.

There is no harm in trying to install these options even if you are not an administrator. You'll be notified if you don't have the required administrator-level access rights.

Primary benefits:

  • Windows Explorer icon associations are installed for SafeHouse volume files.

  • Open volumes are associated with a Windows drive letter.

  • File operations within open volumes will be much faster.

  • Compatibility with Windows' built-in check disk and defragmentation features.

  • Windows applications can directly read and write files to open volumes using the associated virtual drive letter.

Why not use these features all the time?

  • You simply might not have the administrator access rights needed to install these files.

  • You might be using another person's computer and you don't want to install anything on their machine.

  • You might be using a computer in a public library or coffee shop which forbids you from installing third-party software.

Other SafeHouse Products

If you are using SafeHouse Explorer in a work environment where it's important to have as much compatibility as possible with popular Windows applications, we recommend that you take a look at some of our commercial SafeHouse products which offer important conveniences such as permanent drive letter associations and automatic mounting of volumes at Windows startup.

Secure Delete

SafeHouse Explorer includes a secure delete feature which is available from the File menu. The default number of times old files are overwritten before they are destroyed is 2. If needed, you may change this value using the drop list on the Options dialog.

Generally speaking, 2 is plenty for most ordinary use at home or at work. However, if you're working with extra-sensitive information and you believe that people who might try to snoop your files have access to highly-sophisticated equipment and forensic technicians, then you may wish to increase this value to five or six times. This will take longer when deleting files, but the peace of mind may be worth it for you.


SafeHouse Professional Edition

SafeHouse Professional Edition feature list.

SafeHouse Explorer is fully compatible with the password administration and management features which are included with our SafeHouse Professional Edition. These features are disabled by default, and can only be enabled using the administrator wizards built into the Professional Edition. Most importantly, once enabled, you'll gain the ability to reset lost passwords for SafeHouse volumes.

SafeHouse Professional Edition is famous for its "branding" features which allow you to embed, or brand, special administrator information into deployed executable files. This is used mostly in business environments where it's critical that management be able to help users with lost passwords or gain access to encrypted files in an emergency. Even though SafeHouse Explorer is a separate product, SafeHouse Professional Edition includes the ability to securely embed password administration details into the main SafeHouseExplorer.exe file just as it does with its own files.

If you plan on distributing SafeHouse Explorer to employees in your organization, we strongly encourage you to investigate these features. Our administrator videos will show you how it's done.

Individual Licenses Required

Please know that when you use SafeHouse Professional Edition to enable password administration within SafeHouse Explorer, that SafeHouse Explorer is no longer free or freely distributable. In this case, each user of SafeHouse Explorer must be a licensed user for our SafeHouse Professional Edition as detailed in our license agreement.

We recognize that most people frequently use more than one computer, and that with the popularity of memory sticks, you or your employees might in fact be needing to access secure files from any number of machines, including computers in clients' offices or in public schools and libraries. For this reason, we do not require that SafeHouse Professional Edition be installed on each of these machines. We only require that to use SafeHouse Explorer (with password administration enabled) on any of these machines, that each user own a license for SafeHouse Professional Edition for their primary computer. This allows you to place the SafeHouseExplorer.exe program file onto memory sticks and access your private files from nearly any computer, all the while still being able to maintain tight control over volume passwords.

Integration Instructions

Please refer to the Administrator's Guide section of the SafeHouse Professional Edition user's manual for more information and instructions on password management and how to deploy customized SafeHouse files.


Removing SafeHouse

Removing SafeHouse Explorer

If you find it necessary to remove SafeHouse Explorer from your PC, the most important thing to consider is your data. What are you going to do with the files stored within protected volumes? Without either SafeHouse Explorer or our commercial SafeHouse software, you will no longer be able to open your volumes.

Removing SafeHouse Explorer does not Remove your Data

It is important to note that removing SafeHouse Explorer from your PC does not routinely remove or delete your SafeHouse volume files; provided, that is, that you do not keep your volumes in the SafeHouse programs directory. Volume files are treated similarly to word processing documents, whereby you are allowed to remove or change your word processor without having all your documents deleted in the process.

Steps to Remove SafeHouse Explorer

Please follow the steps below to remove SafeHouse Explorer from your PC.

  1. Copy all important files and data contained within SafeHouse encrypted volumes to a normal unencrypted hard drive. This way you will still have access to your files after SafeHouse is removed. This step is only necessary when you will not be re-installing SafeHouse Explorer prior to needing access to your protected files.

  2. Run the Remove SafeHouse Explorer utility. This can be done either from the Windows Control Panel Add/Remove Programs applet, or from the SafeHouse Explorer menu group in your Windows Start menu.

Problems with Damaged Files

If you are having trouble removing SafeHouse from your PC due to the fact that some of the SafeHouse files are missing or damaged, we recommend that you try running the SafeHouse Explorer setup utility to let SafeHouse rebuild its files. Once the required files are present, you can then once again try removing SafeHouse Explorer and it will likely work.


Frequently Asked Questions

Below are answers to some of the most-frequently-asked questions regarding SafeHouse Explorer.

Is SafeHouse Explorer compatible with most Windows applications?

Absolutely. When you open a volume with SafeHouse Explorer's performance enhancements installed, a Windows drive letter is temporarily assigned to the volume. You'll see this new drive show up under My Computer along with all of your other drives. The primary advantage to having volumes being accessible through drive letters is that you can then easily read and write directly to volumes from nearly any standard Windows application.

Can SafeHouse volumes be backed up?

Yes. SafeHouse volumes are normal files and can be backed up using either Explorer or any standard backup software. SafeHouse volumes are ordinary Windows files. Please be sure to close volumes before attempting to back them up.

What is Secure Delete?

Secure Delete is a feature included with SafeHouse Explorer which makes it easy for you to completely and truly delete files. When you delete files the "normal" way in Windows, the data from those files still exists somewhere on your hard drive. This can be very helpful when you've deleted something by mistake and need to recover it from your recycle bin; however, it also makes it easy for intruders to view the contents of these files which you may have thought were long-since deleted.

The Secure Delete feature works by overwriting files about to be deleted with random data patterns. This process completely destroys any wipes clean anything these files may have previously contained. Nobody, including law enforcement or the most-determined hackers, will be able to recover the contents of these files. Of course, this also means that if you securely delete files by mistake, that they will be forever gone and unrecoverable by even the most-sophisticated file recovery tools available.

The Secure Delete feature only works from within SafeHouse Explorer. Files you delete normally using Windows Explorer are not wiped clean as they would be when using SafeHouse Explorer. See How to Securely Delete Files.

Does SafeHouse Explorer have any Weaknesses?

Different manufacturers take different approaches to encryption and data privacy. Like any other kind of lock in the world, each approach has its pros and cons, conveniences and inconveniences. SafeHouse Explorer uses an approach known as virtual disk or volume encryption. This is a very safe technology, however, there are some things you may want to be aware of just to be clear on what protection is provided, and what is not.

Things to know:

  • Windows keeps what is known as a "swap file" to help move data in and out of memory as it needs to make room for running multiple programs at the same time. This swap file is typically saved to drive C: and is frequently 1 to 2GB in size. SafeHouse does not protect the contents of this temporary Windows file. It is possible that if you were working on a sensitive document and Windows wrote some of the memory containing your confidential text to the swap file, fragments of your document could be found in the swap file for a very short period of time. Most security products do not encrypt the swap file since to do so would significantly slow down Window's performance. It would take a very skilled and determined intruder to extract any information from this file, and then, only very small bits here and there might be there.

  • SafeHouse cannot protect you from keyboard sniffers.

  • When a volume is open, all access to the volume is controlled by Windows, not SafeHouse. Therefore, a rogue program or virus could attempt to inspect or delete files within the SafeHouse drive letter - just as it might for your primary C: drive. Closed volumes are immune to such attacks. If you are surfing the Internet and are worried about some browser vulnerability allowing access to your disk files, you are advised to close your SafeHouse volumes before visiting unsafe websites.

It's important to know that the items mentioned above are common to the technology used by SafeHouse Explorer and not specific programming flaws within the software. SafeHouse Explorer is a very safe and secure product which has withstood the test of time.

Can Lost Passwords be Recovered?

Generally speaking, lost SafeHouse Explorer passwords cannot be recovered unless you are using a special copy of the software which is being used in combination with SafeHouse Professional Edition. And even then, password management must be enabled in advance of creating your volumes.

SafeHouse Professional Edition is one of our commercial products which includes a full suite of administrator tools specifically designed for helping with password management and resetting lost passwords. We recognize that this is an important requirement for many business environments, and if this is a feature you need, we strongly encourage you to consider upgrading to SafeHouse Professional Edition.

Can SafeHouse Volumes be Emailed as File Attachments?

Yes, SafeHouse volumes can be attached to emails and sent to friends and business associates. When volumes are closed, they are just ordinary Windows files and can be manipulated just as you would expect for any other ordinary file. Of course, the receiving party will need to know the volume's password and use a compatible SafeHouse product to access its contents. Since SafeHouse Explorer is freely-distributable, you may wish to include a link to its download page at SafeHouseSoftware.com in your email. See Sending Secure Email Attachments.

How is SafeHouse Explorer Different from Other SafeHouse Products?

SafeHouse Explorer was created as a free alternative to our commercial SafeHouse products. Our commercial products offer a bit more flexibility and ease when working with protected files; however, we recognized that not everyone needed this level of flexibility and we thought that a great number of people could benefit from our SafeHouse technology if we found a way offer the public free access to a companion product having a reduced feature set. Please see our feature comparison chart for a complete list of features and differences between our products.

Will SafeHouse Explorer Expire? Are there Special Restrictions?

SafeHouse Explorer is a self-contained security solution which will never expire and does not contain any artificial restrictions on the size or count of files which can be protected. This is not trial software. You will never be denied access to your own files.

Although SafeHouse Explorer may not contain every single feature contained in our commercial products, it does, however, contain everything you need to protect and store confidential files using simple drag and drop techniques. In fact, for home or personal use, this may be the only security software you ever need. Of course, we certainly encourage you to take a look at some of the additional features offered in our commercial products, as it is our hope that you will find them important enough to consider stepping up to either our SafeHouse Personal or SafeHouse Professional Editions.

Will SafeHouse Explorer Work on PCs Found in Schools and Libraries?

Yes, SafeHouse Explorer is specifically designed to work well on public PCs which are typically locked down with tight security controls. It is important to understand that administrators frequently forbid users from installing third-party software on publicly-accessible PCs; however, SafeHouse Explorer can be run as a stand-alone EXE file directly from USB Flash drives or other portable media without needing to be installed onto PCs in the customary sense. This means that although it's still possible for administrators to prevent this level of program execution, more often than not, you will find that it works just fine.

Does SafeHouse Explorer Support Smartcards?

Yes, but only when used in combination with one of our other SafeHouse products which includes smartcard support. SafeHouse Explorer is able to automatically take advantage of the smartcard support built into some of our other products.

Can SafeHouse Explorer protect my Outlook PST files?

Attempting to use SafeHouse Explorer to protect your live Microsoft Outlook PST files might be problematic because Outlook stores the location of your PST files and expects to find them in the same place each time. SafeHouse Explorer uses temporary Windows drive letters that are not guaranteed to be the same each time you run the software. Our SafeHouse Professional Edition supports sticky drive letters which very nicely addresses this issue and works well with Microsoft Outlook.

Can SafeHouse Explorer protect my Intuit QuickBooks files?

Attempting to use SafeHouse Explorer to protect your live QuickBooks files might be problematic because QuickBooks expects to find your accounting files in the same place each time. SafeHouse Explorer uses temporary Windows drive letters that are not guaranteed to be the same each time you run the software. Our SafeHouse Professional Edition supports sticky drive letters which very nicely addresses this issue and works well with QuickBooks. On the other hand, SafeHouse Explorer is perfect for keeping secure backups of your QuickBooks data files.

Can SafeHouse Explorer Run without being Installed?

Yes, SafeHouse Explorer can be run just by placing a copy of SafeHouseExplorer.exe onto an external drive or memory stick, and then running it directly from there. This is the main executable file. No other files are needed. This file can usually be found in the c:\Program Files\SafeHouse Explorer folder if you've performed a standard install of the software. More information.

Is SafeHouse Explorer freely distributable?

Our License Agreement details a variety of common circumstances in which this software may be distributed without requiring a special license from PC Dynamics. Under those provisions, you may generally distribute up to 500 copies of the software without any paperwork as long as you do not charge any fee for doing so. Please refer to the license agreement for the specific terms and conditions for distributing SafeHouse Explorer.


Exporting Cryptographic Software

SafeHouse Explorer may be exported to and sold in all countries throughout the world except for the T7 countries listed on this page.

This export information is subject to change.

Restricted Countries

SafeHouse may not under any circumstances be exported to any of the countries deemed to support terrorism (T7) which are listed below.

  • Cuba

  • Libya

  • Sudan

  • Iraq

  • North Korea

  • Syria

  • Iran


License Agreement

The following is a copy of the license agreement which accompanies SafeHouse Explorer.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE

YOU SHOULD CAREFULLY READ THE FOLLOWING TERMS AND CONDITIONS BEFORE USING THIS SOFTWARE PACKAGE. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH THEM, PLEASE DISCONTINUE USE OF THE PRODUCT.

PC Dynamics, Inc., provides this program and licenses its use under the terms and conditions stated herein. You assume responsibility for the selection of the program to achieve your intended results, and for the installation, use and results obtained from the program.

PART I

WARRANTY DISCLAIMER AND LIABILITY LIMITATION.

NO WARRANTY. This Software is made available by PC Dynamics on an "AS IS" basis and WITH ALL FAULTS. EXCEPT FOR ANY WARRANTY, CONDITION, REPRESENTATION OR TERM TO THE EXTENT TO WHICH THE SAME MAY NOT BE EXCLUDED OR LIMITED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW, PC DYNAMICS AND ITS SUPPLIERS MAKE NO WARRANTIES, CONDITIONS, REPRESENTATIONS, OR TERMS (EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WHETHER BY STATUTE, COMMON LAW, CUSTOM, USAGE OR OTHERWISE) AS TO ANY MATTER INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION PERFORMANCE, RESULTS, NONINFRINGEMENT OF ANY PARTY’S RIGHTS, MERCHANTABILITY, INTEGRATION, SATISFACTORY QUALITY, OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE. PC Dynamics provides no technical support or remedies for the Software.

LIMITATION OF LIABILITY. IN NO EVENT WILL PC DYNAMICS OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE TO ANY PARTY FOR ANY DAMAGES, CLAIMS OR COSTS WHATSOEVER OR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, OR ANY LOST PROFITS OR LOST SAVINGS, EVEN IF AN PC DYNAMICS REPRESENTATIVE HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH LOSS, DAMAGES, CLAIMS OR COSTS, OR FOR ANY CLAIM BY ANY THIRD PARTY. THE FOREGOING LIMITATIONS AND EXCLUSIONS APPLY TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. PC DYNAMICS' AGGREGATE LIABILITY AND THAT OF ITS SUPPLIERS UNDER OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE SHALL BE LIMITED TO NO MORE THAN US $.01. PC Dynamics is acting on behalf of its suppliers for the purpose of disclaiming, excluding and/or limiting obligations, warranties and liability, but in no other respects and for no other purpose. For further information, contact PC Dynamics’ Customer Support Department.

PART II

SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT.

BY USING, COPYING OR DISTRIBUTING ALL OR ANY PORTION OF THIS SOFTWARE, YOU ACCEPT ALL TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS AGREEMENT. UPON ACCEPTANCE, THIS AGREEMENT IS ENFORCEABLE AGAINST YOU AND ANY ENTITY THAT OBTAINED THE SOFTWARE AND ON WHOSE BEHALF IT IS USED. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE, DO NOT USE THIS SOFTWARE.

PC DYNAMICS PERMITS YOU TO USE THE SOFTWARE ONLY IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT.

1. DEFINITIONS

"PC Dynamics" means PC Dynamics, Inc., located in Oak Park, CA, or any new or additional locations.

"Computer" means a virtual or physical electronic device which accepts and processes information in digital format.

"Software" means all contents of the files delivered or included with this product, including any or all updates, upgrades and related download files.

"Use" means to access, install, download, copy or otherwise benefit from using the functionality of the Software.

2. SOFTWARE LICENSE

If you obtained the Software from PC Dynamics or one of its authorized licensees or distribution agents, and subject to your compliance with the terms of this Agreement, PC Dynamics grants you a non-exclusive license to use the Software in the manner and for the purposes described as follows:

2.1 General Use. You may install and use the Software on your computer and on computer media, including hard drives and memory sticks. The license granted herein is a per-user license, not a per-computer or per-seat license. You are not restricted to personally using this Software on a single machine. You may personally use this Software on any computer for which you are otherwise allowed to operate by its respective owner.

2.2 Free Software. This Software is distributed and provided to you at no charge. This software is not trial software nor will it expire. PC Dynamics does not provide free technical support for this Software. Your right to support is limited to any documents, answers, forums or other such information as we may choose to publish on our website.

2.3 Sublicensing. This license does not grant you the right to sublicense all or any portion of this Software.

3. OBLIGATIONS AND RESTRICTIONS

No Modifications or Reverse Engineering. You may not modify, adapt, translate or create derivative works based upon this Software. You will not reverse engineer, decompile, dissassemble or otherwise attempt to discover the source code of the Software except to the extent such may be expressly permitted by applicable law.

3.1 Passwords. Your use and choosing of passwords are your responsibility. PC Dynamics cannot be held responsible if access to your data is compromised due to weak passwords, nor can PC Dynamics assist you in the event your password is lost or stolen.

3.2 Personal Data. Computer files created, operated upon or placed under the protection of this Software remain your responsibility and should be backed up and cared for as you would any other important files or information. PC Dynamics shall not be responsible nor liable for any loss of data due to missing backups, file corruption, lost passwords, viruses, malicious software or any other act or omission which might lead to the temporary or permanent loss of your data.

3.3 SafeHouse Professional Edition. SafeHouse Professional Edition includes a variety of advanced password management features which are compatible with this Software. This specifically includes the features known as "branding" and "resetting passwords". Your use of these features in conjunction with this Software is subject to the license terms and conditions of the SafeHouse Professional Edition software, and you must be an authorized licensed user of SafeHouse Professional Edition to use this Software in its "branded" form. Specifically, if SafeHouse Professional Edition is used to embed or brand password management information into a copy of this Software, then you must purchase or obtain a license for the SafeHouse Professional Edition and your use and distribution rights for this Software shall then be in accordance with your license for the SafeHouse Professional Edition.

4. TRANSFER

You may not rent, lease, sublicense, assign or transfer your rights in this Software, or authorize all or any portion of this Software to be copied onto another user's computer except as may be expressly permitted by this Agreement. You may, however, transfer all your rights to use this Software to another person or legal entity provided that: (a) you transfer (i) this Agreement, and (ii) the Software, including all copies, updates and prior versions, to such person or entity, (b) you retain no copies, including backups and copies stored on your Computer, and (c) the receiving party accepts the terms and conditions of this Agreement.

5. DISTRIBUTION

This Software may be distributed as described below, still subject to all other provisions of this Agreement. Although PC Dynamics may seemingly have a very liberal distribution policy, this software is not open source and is not in the public domain.

5.1 Small Quantities. You are expressly permitted to freely distribute up to 500 copies of this Software without receiving written permission from PC Dynamics. You may not charge any fees for this Software under this license provision. Any recipient of such free distribution must accept this Agreement prior to using the Software.

5.2 Corporate Use. You are expressly permitted to distribute up to 500 copies of this Software to employees of your own company or organization without advance written permission from PC Dynamics, provided, however, that each employee or recipient accepts this license Agreement prior to their first use of the Software. If your organization has more than 500 employees, please contact our sales department to receive written authorization to freely distribute this Software within your organization.

5.3 Hardware and Software Bundles. You must be expressly authorized in writing by PC Dynamics to distribute this Software bundled or included with a commercial hardware or software product. At our sole discretion, and if such distribution would not be in conflict with other marketing and distribution agreements we may have, we may grant to you the right to distribute this Software with your product at no charge. Please contact our sales department for more information.

5.4 Internet Download Sites. Free, publically-accessible Internet software download sites are hereby expressly permitted to distribute this Software at no charge to website visitors. PC Dynamics reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to revoke this distribution right if your website violates public law or our company's established policies.

5.5 Fees. You may not, under any circumstances, charge a fee to recipients for this Software under any of the distribution rights granted herein.

5.6 Unmodified Software. Any and all rights to freely distribute this Software as may be provided hereof remain subject to Section 3.3 and applies only to the "non-branded" unmodified download files which are publicly available from the PC Dynamics website or SafeHouseSoftware.com. If SafeHouse Professional Edition is used to embed or brand administration and password management information into this Software, the Software is then considered to be modified and thus not freely distributable. In this case, a license for the SafeHouse Professional Edition software will be required for each intended user of such branded or modified Software.

6. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OWNERSHIP

This Software and any authorized copies that you make are the intellectual property of PC Dynamics, Inc. The structure, organization and code of the Software are the valuable trade secrets and confidential information of PC Dynamics. This Software is protected by law, including without limitation the copyright laws of the United States and other counties, and by international treaty provisions. Except as expressly stated herein, this Agreement does not grant you any intellectual property rights in the Software and all rights not expressly granted are reserved by PC Dynamics and its suppliers.

7. EXPORT RULES

Use of this Software is subject to US export laws. This Software may not be transported, distributed or used in any country presently listed by the US Department of State as a terrorist State.

8. GOVERNING LAW

This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the substantive laws in force in the State of California, USA.

9. TERM OF LICENSE

The license is effective until terminated. You may terminate it at any time by destroying the program and all copies, modifications and merged portions of the program in any form. The license also terminates upon conditions set forth elsewhere in this Agreement or if you fail to comply with any term or condition of this Agreement. Upon termination, you agree to destroy the program together with all copies, modifications and merged portions in any form.

10. LIMITATIONS OF REMEDIES

IN NO EVENT WILL PC DYNAMICS, INC., BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY DAMAGES INCLUDING ANY LOST PROFITS, LOST SAVINGS OR OTHER INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE SUCH PROGRAM EVEN IF PC DYNAMICS, INC., OR AN AUTHORIZED PC DYNAMICS, INC., DEALER HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY CLAIM BY ANY OTHER PARTY.

SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU (AND NOT PC DYNAMICS, INC., OR AN AUTHORIZED PERSONAL COMPUTER DEALER) ASSUME THE ENTIRE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICE, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.

SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES, SO THE ABOVE EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. THIS WARRANTY GIVES YOU SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS AND YOU MAY ALSO HAVE OTHER RIGHTS WHICH VARY FROM STATE TO STATE.

PC Dynamics, Inc., does not warrant that the functions contained in the program will meet your requirements or that the operation of the program will be uninterrupted or error-free.

11. GENERAL PROVISIONS

If any part of this Agreement is found void and unenforceable, it will not affect the validity of the balance of this Agreement, which shall remain valid and enforceable according to its terms. This Agreement shall not prejudice the statutory rights of any part dealing as a customer. This Agreement may only be modified by a writing signed by an authorized officer of PC Dynamics. Updates to this Software may be licensed to you on different terms. This is the entire Agreement between you and PC Dynamics relating to this Software and it supersedes any prior representations, discussions, undertaking, communications or advertising relating to this Software.

Should you have any questions concerning this Agreement, you may contact PC Dynamics, Inc., by writing to PC Dynamics, Inc., 6104 Bryndale Avenue, Oak Park, CA 91377.

YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE READ THIS AGREEMENT, THAT YOU UNDERSTAND IT AND THAT YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY ITS TERMS AND CONDITIONS.


How to Contact Us

Please visit SafeHouseSoftware.com for up-to-date contact information.

Product Support

Please understand that PC Dynamics does not offer free product support for SafeHouse Explorer. We promise to make every effort to publish answers to common questions on our website if not already addressed in our standard product documentation.

Lost Passwords

Unfortunately, if you lose your password, there is nothing we can do to help you recover it or reset it. This is what makes the product so secure. There is nothing built into the software which will allow us to discover or recover your password. If you are looking to deploy SafeHouse Explorer into an environment where password recovery is required, we encourage you to evaluate our SafeHouse Professional Edition which includes a variety of indispensable password management features which are fully compatible with SafeHouse Explorer.