Products FAQ

FAQ

You will find listed below answers to the most common questions about all my currently available programs. In case you didn't know, FAQ stands for "Frequently Asked Questions".

FAQ Form

If you have a question that is not listed below, then please use the FAQ FORM below to send it to me and I will add it to this page.

Note that I will not be able to reply to your question by e-mail as the FAQ FORM does not work like an e-mail. It will be sent to me as an email but without passing on to me your email address. The good thing about of doing things this way is that you can ask me any question concerning any of my programs anonymously and confidentially.

If, however, you would like me to reply to you personally by e-mail then make sure to include your name and a valid e-mail address in the FAQ FORM below.

FAQ Form

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All Cattle Ramp Software Products

Some products have balloon tips instead of a help file. How does that work?
Balloon tips are popups that appear when you place your mouse over an item on the interface of a program. These balloon tips vary in size depending on how much information they contain, and the items on an interface that support balloon tips can be just about anything: tables, edit boxes, check boxes, progress bars, . . .

There are a few things you need to know about balloon tips if you are to know how work with them:

balloon tips will appear 1-2 seconds after you move your mouse over an item,

balloon tips will be displayed for 30 seconds thus giving you plenty of time to read them,

you cannot view the same balloon tip twice in a row. If you want to see a balloon tip once more after first viewing it, you will need to move your mouse over another item to have another balloon tip displayed, and then you will be able to go back to the initial item to see that balloon tip once more. My apologies for this but there is nothing I can do about it as I am using a third party product to add balloon tips to the interface of my programs.

At the moment, about half my programs use balloon tips. It is expected that, as I update the other programs, that I will add this feature to them too.

Can I get my money back if I am not happy with a product I bought?
Absolutely! If for whatever reason, you are not happy with the product you bought, let me know and I will take steps to refund your payment. I once received a request for a refund from a lady who could not work out how to make one of my programs work, and I refunded her payment on the spot.

There is one condition on the refund though. Because all payments are managed through either PayPal or RegSoft, I must ask that any refund requests be made within 1 month from the time of payment. I hope you understand the reason for that condition.

What support do you offer your products?
Once you have purchased a product, you instantly become entitled to:

free unlimited e-mail support at any time, and
free upgrades and free patches.

In case you don't know, an upgrade is when a newer version is released with new features, and a patch is when a version is released specifically to deal with bugs that have been fixed.

>Budget Manager

What is the difference between the unregistered and the registered version of >Budget Manager?
Both versions are exactly the same except that with the trial version you can't save or print your budgets. Click to register >Budget Manager.

Can I change the "$" currency symbol used on the interface?
You certainly can do that. Use the menu command LANGUAGE SETTINGS... The file BUDGET.INI will open allowing you to make the changes you want (the file contains instructions as to what to do).

Can I change the English button captions to captions in my language?
Yes, you can do that. Use the menu command LANGUAGE SETTINGS... The file BUDGET.INI will open allowing you to make the changes you want (the file contains instructions as to what to do).

Can I change the English text on the interface to my language?
Yes, you can do that too. Use the menu command LANGUAGE SETTINGS... The file BUDGET.INI will open allowing you to make the changes you want (the file contains instructions as to what to do).

Why doesn't the menu have keyboard shortcuts?
>Budget Manager does not have any keyboard shortcuts for the menu commands so as not to conflict with the button keyboard shortcuts. >Budget Manager instead uses the F. keys as its menu keyboard shortcuts.

How many decimal places are supported by >Budget Manager?
>Budget Manager will allow you to use 2 decimal places for the amounts of money you enter. However, >Budget Manager rounds off to the nearest whole number all its calculations.

Does >Budget Manager support the use of the "," decimal point?
>Budget Manager will automatically adapt to whatever decimal point Windows uses: "." or ",".

Do I need to save my work before exiting >Budget Manager?
There is no need to do that as >Budget Manager will automatically save your entries whenever you make a new one or whenever you change one.

Someone sent me the following message "What is the difference between budget and control and could one assess the difference?"
Unfortunately, I don't understand what the question means and hence I cannot answer it - sorry!

>Canary Standard

What is the difference between the unregistered and the registered version?
Both versions are exactly the same except that with the unregistered version the password is "Canary", while with the registered version you can use whatever password you want. Furthermore, the unregistered version will allow you to monitor computer use and Internet access for 20 minutes, while the registered version will enable you to do the same for 1 hour. Of course, by ordering >Canary, you will be able to monitor computer use and Internet access 24x7! Click to register >Canary or to order >Canary (that comes with 2 FREE and exciting gifts).

Can I change the password in >Canary?
There are 2 parts to this answer:

if you are using an unregistered version of >Canary, then you cannot change the password,
if you are using a registered version of >Canary, then you can change your password at any time you want.

I have installed >Canary and it is asking for a password. What is going on?
>Canary comes with a default password which is "Canary", and this password cannot be changed unless you register >Canary or unless you order >Canary. Click to register >Canary or to order >Canary (that comes with 2 FREE and exciting gifts).

Can I use >Canary in my own non-English language?
You can certainly do that. >Canary has been designed to work in any language and is currently used in around 70 different countries around the world. The >Canary manual has full details on how to set up >Canary to run in your language.

I have set >Canary to run in clandestine mode and I can't access its interface anymore. What shall I do?
Amazingly, I get asked this question regularly. The instructions you seek should have been displayed in the balloon help when you set the clandestine setting in >Canary Settings. In case you missed it, I am reproducing them here. A word of caution, make sure to follow the instructions exactly as given to you.

run Notepad and make sure that it is not maximized,
type "Canary" at the first line and in the first position ie. first up,
maximize Notepad and wait for a few seconds,
minimize Notepad and you should find the >Canary password popup displayed,
close Notepad,
enter your password into the >Canary popup and click on OK. You should now have access to the >Canary interface.

Some potential problems are:

make sure that you are running >Canary (I know that it is an obvious one but someone frustratingly tried the process above only to discover that >Canary was not running),
make sure that you are using Notepad and not WordPad,
make sure that your task bar is not set to be displayed at the top of your screen.

Does >Canary record keystrokes?
>Canary is not a key logging programs and as such does not record keystrokes. >Canary was initially developed to be used in the classroom in the early days of the Internet to make sure that students were doing the right thing when accessing the Internet. >Canary was never designed to obtain passwords, email messages,...

Does >Canary work under all versions of Windows?
The latest version of >Canary runs under XP (admin mode), Vista (admin mode), Windows 7 (admin mode).

I have installed >Canary Standard on my computer and I want to uninstall it. Please Help!
>Canary has an UNINSTALL menu command that will totally remove all the >Canary files from your computer. Consequently, to uninstall it, use the following instructions:

click on the >Canary icon in the system tray (the icon should be a little yellow bird against a grey background)...a popup will appear,
enter the default password "Canary" (case sensitive) into the popup (or whatever password you set it to use) and click on OK. The >Canary interface should then appear on your screen,
go through the menu looking for the UNINSTALL command and click on it...this will uninstall >Canary from your computer.

That should be it! If you have followed the instructions above, >Canary Standard will be removed from your computer.

What is the difference between monitoring software and spying software?
As mentioned above, >Canary was initially designed to monitor student access to the Internet. I have since expanded on that idea so that parents can now use >Canary to monitor their children's access to the Internet, bosses can monitor their employees' use of computers,... As such, >Canary is a monitoring program because I see it as being used by people in authority who are monitoring people they are in charge of.

Spying programs do not respect this authority thing so that a total stranger can monitor my surfing habits, or obtain my passwords or read my emails, or access the contents of my hard disk... I consider such spying an invasion of privacy as the people using spying programs are not in a position of authority over me and hence have no right to do these things.

Does >Canary access the Internet without my permission?
Absolutely not! There is a rogue program out there also called canary that once installed on people's computers will try to access the Internet without their knowledge. Let me make this perfectly clear...my >Canary does not do that! My >Canary has no way of accessing the Internet, nor does it have any reason for doing so. All my software is spyware and adware free, including >Canary.

The rogue canary that has been reported to me is usually is found in a temporary Internet folder and has been reported as being installed after downloading and installing a file from a shareware site.

Let me suggest a couple of things you can do to protect your computer (and yourself) while on the Internet:

run a firewall on your computer. A very good one is ZoneAlarm which has a free version for you to download and use. Once installed on your computer, any program that wants to access the Internet will need to get your permission. This way you can find out and control what programs access the Internet,
run regularly a program that will search your computer for any spyware or adware programs that have been installed without your knowledge. There are several such programs around. The one I use is AdAware from LavaSoft. Also free!

>Canary Pro

What is the difference between >Canary Standard and >Canary Pro?
>Canary Standard and >Canary Pro both do the same basic thing - they both monitor computer use and Internet access. However, >Canary Pro has lots of features. For example,

it has Internet support so that you can receive regularly by email the >Canary data logs,
it has network support so that you can view on the server the >Canary data logs of workstations connected to the network,
it has a search facility so that you can search the data logs for specific keywords,
it has a list feature so that you can view only the items in the data log that contain a specific keyword,
the data files are encrypted for additional security,
you can set it to run totally invisible so that it does not show in the task list after doing a Ctrl-Alt-Delete,
you can set it to record the URL of web sites visited using MSIE, Netscape or Opera (as long as no extra toolbars have been added to these browsers),
you can easily access the web sites reported in the log by their URL...in case you are wondering about what a web site listed is about,
you can view its interface in either the screen resolution of 800x600 or 1024x768,
its interface runs on a timer so that if you are unexpectedly called away from the computer while viewing the data logs, then it will minimize itself after a certain amount of time that you have specified - a great security feature!
it has a menu command that will make a registry file. This registry file can then be run on any computer running >Canary Pro and that computer will have the same >Canary Pro settings as the computer that made the registry file,
and much more . . .

What is the difference between the trial and the full version of >Canary Pro?
Both versions are exactly the same except that the trial version is time limited. The time limit is 24 hours x 14 days = 336 hours. The reason for this amount of time is that >Canary Pro can monitor computers 24 hours a day and I thought that 14 continuous days of monitoring would be sufficient time to test >Canary Pro.

What happens if I don't use my computer 24 hours a day?
If you are like me and only switch on your computer for when you need it, then the trial version of >Canary Pro will work for a total of 336 hours.

What happens when the trial period ends?
At the end of the trial period, >Canary Pro will run normally except that it will monitor and record nothing in its data files. The reason why it continues to work "normally" is so that you can enter the registration code once you have purchased it. Once you enter the registration code into it, >Canary Pro will work just like the trial version except that there will no longer be a time limit on its use.

Are >Canary Standard and >Canary Pro the same program or are they different programs?
Good question! >Canary Standard and >Canary Pro are different programs in the sense that you can install both of them on a computer and test both of them at the same time. They are however the same in that they both monitor computer use and Internet access. In fact, it is the same code that does the monitoring in both programs. However, as you would expect, >Canary Pro has lots more features than >Canary Standard.

Can I use >Canary Pro in my own non-English language?
You can certainly do that. >Canary Pro has been designed to work in any language. The way >Canary Pro works with any language is the same as the way the free version of >Canary Standard works (and that free version of >Canary is currently used in around 70 different countries around the world). The >Canary Pro manual has full details on how to set up >Canary Pro to run in your language.

I have set >Canary Pro to run in invisible mode and I can't access its interface anymore. What shall I do ?
You will find the answer to this question here as the process is the same for >Canary Standard being set to clandestine mode.

Does >Canary Pro record keystrokes?
>Canary Pro is not a key logging programs and as such does not record keystrokes. The first version of >Canary was initially developed to be used in the classroom in the early days of the Internet to make sure that students were doing the right thing when accessing the Internet. >Canary Pro grew from that early program to have lots more features and recording passwords, email messages,... is not something that >Canary Pro was designed to do.

Does >Canary Pro work under all versions of Windows?
Have a look above at the same question for >Canary.

What is the difference between monitoring software and spying software?
As mentioned above, >Canary was initially designed to monitor student access to the Internet. I have since expanded on that idea so that parents can now use >Canary Pro to monitor their children's access to the Internet, bosses can monitor their employees' use of computers,... As such, >Canary is a monitoring program because I see it as being used by people in authority who are monitoring people they are in charge of.

Does >Canary Pro access the Internet without my permission?
Absolutely not! None of my programs contain any spyware code or programs and as such none will access the Internet without your permission. >Canary Pro does have an Internet access feature whereby you can set it to send you the data log by email. But this feature needs to be setup by you and will only work if you set it up to work. Otherwise, >Canary Pro will not access the Internet without your knowledge.

Following on the issue of spyware, let me suggest a couple of things you can do to protect your computer (and yourself) while on the Internet:

run a firewall on your computer. A very good one is ZoneAlarm which has a free version for you to download and use. Once installed on your computer, any program that wants to access the Internet will need to get your permission. This way you can find out and control what programs access the Internet,
run regularly a program that will search your computer for any spyware programs that have been installed without your knowledge. There are several such programs around. The one I use is AdAware from LavaSoft. Also free!

>ExitWin

What is the difference between the unregistered and the registered version of >ExitWin?
Both versions are exactly the same except that,

you cannot save the time at which you want >ExitWin to shutdown a computer. This means that in the unregistered version, you will need to set it by hand each time,
you cannot password protect the >ExitWin interface. This means that when it is running in the system tray, anyone can have access to its interface and make changes to its settings.

Does >ExitWin work with any computer?
The answer to this question comes in 2 parts:

>ExitWin has been tested under Windows 95, 98 and ME. Some of the shutdown codes will work with NT, W2k and XP, but I don't know ahead of time which ones will and which ones won't. >ExitWin comes with a long list of shutdown codes together with a very handy TEST button which will test for you whether a shutdown code will work with your particular computer and operating system,
>ExitWin will not work with older computers as >ExitWin will get these computers to the stage of "It is now safe to turn off your computer" and >ExitWin will not be able to switch the computer off for you. In other words, if you want >ExitWin to shutdown your computer, then your computer has to be one that will shutdown automatically when Windows is shutdown.

I would hence strongly suggest that you test >ExitWin on the computer(s) that you want to use it on before relying on it to shut your computer(s) down.

PS. We have not tested >ExitWin with Vista or Windows 7. Feel free to try it and let us know (if you want to).

Does >ExitWin support 12h or 24h time?
Absolutely! >ExitWin has been designed to determine what time format is used by a computer and it will automatically set itself to that format.

Can I password protect >ExitWin so that once it runs in the system tray, no one can change its settings?
At the request of a user who uses >ExitWin in a school, I have implemented that feature. This password feature is only available in version 2.20 onwards.

Why are there so many shutdown modes?
I have conducted an extensive search on the Internet for as many force, logoff, poweroff, reboot and shutdown codes that I could find that would work with Windows 95, 98 and ME. I have listed all these in the shutdown modes of >ExitWin. The reason for this is that I have found that some codes will work for some motherboards and others will work for different motherboards. So, by including them all, users will have a greater chance of being able to find a shutdown code that will work with their computer.

Why are there different colours for safe, warning and danger?
Being a teacher, I have come to understand that some of us are visual ie. we respond more to seeing things in picture form or in colour. I have sought to use that idea in the design of >ExitWin so that at a glance, you can tell from the colour displayed at what stage of the countdown >ExitWin is at.

I am also concerned that there are folks who are colour blind, the most common form being red-green colour blindness. To help these folks, I have made it possible for the 3 colours to be changed to other colours they will be able to distinguish.

What is the "batch file" option in the list of shutdown modes?
The batch file option is really for advanced users ie. folks who know how to write batch files. I included that option primarily for folks who want to use >ExitWin with NT, or XP or W2k. As I am not sure if >ExitWin will work with these operating systems, I thought of providing a way that they could use to make it work. Of course, users will need to know the batch file code necessary to shutdown their computer.

The batch file can also be used to do some house keeping before shutting down a computer eg. delete temporary files. But the last line in the batch file must be the one used to shutdown a computer.

>E-Diary

I will hold off doing a detailed FAQ for >E-Diary as:

I think that it is currently easy to use except for the question below (which I get asked frequently),
I am planning on bringing an update with a better interface and rich text support. Adding rich text support means that you will be able to make parts of your text bold, italic, underlined, centred, left aligned, coloured, . . . and you will be able to add pictures/photos in the main text. It will be a very exciting upgrade!

How do I change the picture of the little girl?
Being a personal diary, I thought that it would be nice to be able to display on the interface of >E-Diary the photo of something or someone you care about. The picture that is displayed by default is my daughter when she was younger. In order to change it,

close >E-Dairy if you are running it,
go to your >E-Diary folder,
delete the file E-DIARY.BMP,
place in it the photo you want to use. Make sure that it is a BMP file and that your photo has the size 152 x 100 (length x height),
rename your file to E-DIARY.BMP,
run >E-Diary and your photo should be displayed.

In the next version of >E-Diary, I will make the process of changing photo easier.

>E-Diary Gold

What is the difference between >E-Diary and >E-Diary Gold?
The difference between the 2 versions is that with >E-Diary Gold,

your data files are very securely encrypted before being saved to the hard disk,
you can have several people using >E-Diary Gold with each user being able to only view and edit their own data files. Each user will need to become a registered user of >E-Diary Gold (more on that below),
each person using >E-Diary Gold can optionally set for the program to open a particular file each time they "log in",
there is an administrator mode to help with the maintenance of the registered users' accounts.

I will hold off here adding more FAQ to >E-Diary Gold for the reasons mentioned in the >E-Diary FAQ section.

>Login Backup

When I run the program, nothing happens!
For security reasons, >Login Backup requires you to log in first before you can view your entries or edit them. To log in, click on the icon that looks like an open padlock at the top right of the program. Once you have entered your password (and it has been accepted), you will then be able to view your data and to edit them.

What is the default password?
The default password for >Login Backup is "Secure". This password cannot be changed unless you register it or you order >Login Backup.

What's with the little red/green square at the top right?
This coloured square is meant to be a visual cue as to whether you are logged in or not. If you are logged in, then the square is red to alert you to the fact that anyone can view your data (for example, when you leave your desk for whatever reason). If you are not logged in, then the square will be green meaning that no one can view your data unless they know your password.

What is the difference between the unregistered, the registered and the full version?
This answer to this question is rather lengthy and to avoid repetition, let me direct you to clicking on the ABOUT menu command of >Login Backup as you will find the answer to this question there.

How secure is my data?
The answer to this question comes in 2 parts:

to access your data through >Login Backup requires a password. So, if no one knows your password, then no one can use >Login Backup to view your data, and
your data is very securely encrypted before being saved to the hard disk. The encryption method used is called Blowfish and has to date not been cracked - so your data is very safe! Additionally, your password is also encrypted with Blowfish, so that if someone were to find where your password is stored, they would still not be able to discover what it is.

I had a look in my >Login Backup folder and found lots of files with numbers. What are they and what do they do?
>Login Backup creates a backup file every time a new entry is added or every time a change is made to your data. This backup file, which uses the date and time it was created as its name, is in case your data file becomes corrupt for whatever reason.

These backup files also use the Blowfish encryption algorithm so that no none can use them to access your data.

>International Time

What is the difference between the unregistered and the registered version of >International Time?
This answer to this question is rather lengthy and to avoid repetition, let me direct you to clicking on the ABOUT menu command of >International Time as you will find the answer to this question there.

When I place my cursor over an item on the interface, sometimes a brief explanation of what that item does is displayed beneath the picture and sometimes it is not.
I am well aware of that "bug" and there is nothing I can do about it as it is a problem that comes with the programming language I used to write >International Time. To help with this problem, I have made sure that a little popup always appears when a cursor is placed over an item. This way, if the description is not displayed under the picture, at least the popup will be.

How do I know when it is yesterday or today for a contact I have added to >International Time?
It is quite easy to tell whether it is today, yesterday or even tomorrow. This is how:

if a "-" is displayed in front of the time, then it is yesterday,
if a "=" is displayed in front of the time, then it is today,
if a "+" is displayed in front of the time, then it is tomorrow.

How do I change the glyph for a contact?
The process for changing the glyph of a contact is as follows:

click on the glyph icon displayed on the right of the person's name,
a list of glyphs will be displayed in the main table,
select the glyph you want to use by clicking on it once in the table - you will notice that the glyph next to the person's name has changed to your selection,
click on the glyph next to the person's name once more - this will remove all the glyphs displayed in the main table and restore your list of contacts, and
click on the UPDATE button to save your selection.

What's with the little red/green coloured squares next to NAME and LOCATION?
These are visual cues to alert you whether your data has been changed and hence needs to be updated (by clicking on the UPDATE button) to save your changes. To that end,

if the coloured square is red, then your data has been changed and needs to be updated,
if the coloured square is green, then your data has not been changed and hence there is no need to update it.

What does the "+/- Hour" link do?
By clicking once on this link, you will be taken to a web site on the Internet that will enable you to find out what the current date and time is anywhere around the world. The reason for this link is to help you work out the hour offset between you and your contact.

By default, >International Time will send you to http://www.timeanddate.com. If you want to change this URL it sends you too, just right click once on the link and enter the URL you wish to use. Make sure to include "http://".

Can I use my own photo instead of the ones that are currently available?
You certainly can. Add your photo to the PHOTO folder, and make sure that your photo has the dimensions of 140 x 105 (width x height), and that it is a BMP file.

Can I use my own glyphs?
Again, yes you can. Just add your 16 x16 BMP glyph to the GLYPHS folder.

Can I use my own hotspot image (the ones displayed over the photo)?
Again, yes you can. Just add your 32 x 32 ICO image to the HOTSPOT folder.

There is one problem with these ICO images you need to know about. When you design your ICO image, only use the top left quarter of the image as it is the only part of the ICO image that will be displayed on the interface of >International Time. This "bug" is caused by the programming language I used to write >International Time, and there is nothing I can do about it.

After left clicking on the >International Time icon in the system tray, a popup appears. This popup runs on a timer and closes once the set time has elapsed. Is there any way of resetting the timer while the popup is displayed so that the popup stays displayed for a longer period of time?
You can certainly do that. Whenever the popup is displayed, just click once on the progress bar at the bottom of the popup and the timer will be reset.

>Password Generator

What is the difference between the unregistered and the registered version of >Password Generator?
This answer to this question is rather lengthy and to avoid repetition, let me direct you to clicking on the ABOUT menu command of >Password Generator as you will find the answer to this question there.

Does >Password Generator support languages other than English?
The answer to this question comes in 2 parts:

the button captions and the text displayed on the >Password Generator interface is currently only displayed in English,
the passwords produced by >Password Generator currently only use the English alphabet/characters ie. abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz. I did try briefly to make it work with characters such as à, å, ç, ê,... but didn't get very far.

When I quit >Password Generator, do the passwords copied to the clipboard stay there?
No they don't! When you exit the program, the clipboard is cleared - for obvious security reasons.

What is the meaning of "Maximum time required to crack your password"?
I wanted to add a feature to >Password Generator A that would give you an idea of how good a type of password is. And I came up with the idea of "Maximum time required to crack your password". This is the maximum amount of time a person would need to work out your password if they tried a new password combination every second.

For example, if you have a 4-character password that only uses numbers, then a person would need a maximum of 2.78 hours to work out your password. You can see then that a 4-character password that only uses numbers is not a good one.

Compare that with a 4-character password made up of lower and upper case letters, numbers and other keyboard characters. A person would then need a maximum of 2.41 years to work it out (at the rate of 1 a second). A better choice - but still not the best choice.

By using this "Maximum time required to crack your password" feature, you can see why it is recommended that password be at least 8 characters long and that they use lower and upper case letters, as well as numbers and other keyboard characters.

Note that the "Maximum time required to crack your password" feature is based on sound mathematical principles and that it assumes that the hacker knows in advance:

how many characters your password has,
whether it uses letters only, or number only, or other keyboard characters only, or
whether it uses a combination of letters, numbers and other keyboard characters.

Can I change the list of words in >Password Generator B?
You can certainly do that - double click on the word list you want to edit and the word list file will open in a text editor ready for you to edit.

In >Password Generator B, why are there 2 numbers at the front of the 2 words, or in the middle or at the end?
The idea of those 2 numbers is to make your password more secure. The more characters a password has, the harder it is to crack.

So, the numbers that have been added usually refer to the length of the word used. For example, in "hot3fish4", the 3 is because "hot" has 3 letters and the 4 is because "fish" has 4 letters. Using the number of characters as the number is preferable to using a random number as you can always "remember" the number by working out how many letters the word has.

With Module C, what is the idea behind the use of known phrases or proverbs to generate passwords?
The idea of that module is quite simple.

First, it makes use of a phrase that you already know, such as "to be or not to be", so that there is nothing new for you to try to remember.

Second, you need to remember the method that you have chosen as the method that you want to use to generate your password. This is actually easier to remember than trying to remember a whole password. For example,

if your method is to use the first 2 letters of each word, then your password is 'tobeornotobe' - not too good in this case!
if your method is to use the first letter of each word + the length of each word, then your password is 't2b2o2n3t2b2' - a better password which is easy to "remember",
if your method is to use the consonants first then the vowels, then your password is 'tbrnttboeoooe' - a better password also, easy to reconstruct at any time,
and so on . . .

As you can see, in module C, the focus is on remembering the process used to generate a password, rather than remembering the password itself. Try and remember 'myneisbdjsbd' - pretty tough, eh? If I said that it uses the phrase "my name is bond, james bond" together with the first and last letter of each word, can you now "remember it"? Of course!

Do you have suggestions for creating a secure password?
The basic rules to creating a secure password is well known (assuming of course that you have read the right mags, web sites,...). Let me share with you what I know about creating a secure password. A secure password must:

have as many characters as possible, and
use a mixture of lower case and upper case letters, and
use numbers, and
use non-alphanumeric keyboard characters (such as [, >, @,...), and
the letters must come from the first half, the middle and the end of the alphabet (but not necessarily in that order), and
same thing with the numbers.

If you are using 2 words for your password, then:

use 2 words that don't make sense together (for example "dieselfrog" or "jupitersnow",...), and
change some of the letters to upper case, and
include some numbers, and
do not use words or numbers that are a part of your life such as birthday dates, daughter's name,... and
rearrange the order of some of the letters eg. put all the vowels at the front.

As you can see, >Password Generator A and >Password Generator B use these rules to produce for you very secure passwords.

Can I use >Password Generator to create passwords that I can use with >Canary?
Yes you can but only with the registered version of >Canary or with the full version (that you have ordered). The reason for this is that only the registered and the full versions of >Canary allow you to change password whenever you want to. The unregistered version uses the default password of "Canary" and it cannot be changed.

>Registration Backup

When I run the program, nothing happens!
For security reasons, >Registration Backup requires you to log in first before you can view your entries or edit them. To log in, click on the icon that looks like an open padlock at the top right of the program. Once you have entered your password (and it has been accepted), you will then be able to view your data and to edit them.

What is the default password?
The default password for >Registration Backup is "Secure". This password cannot be changed unless you register it or you order it.

What is the difference between the unregistered, the registered and the full version?
This answer to this question is rather lengthy and to avoid repetition, let me direct you to clicking on the ABOUT menu command of >Registration Backup as you will find the answer to this question there.

How secure is my data?
The answer to this question comes in 2 parts:

to access your data through >Registration Backup requires a password. So, if no one knows your password, then no one can use >Registration Backup to view your data, and
your data is very securely encrypted before being saved to the hard disk. The encryption method used is called Blowfish and has to date not been cracked - so your data is very safe! Additionally, your password is also encrypted with Blowfish, so that if someone were to find where your password is stored, they would still not be able to discover what it is.

I had a look in my >Registration Backup folder and found lots of files with numbers. What are they and what do they do?
>Registration Backup creates a backup file every time a new entry is added or every time a change is made to your data. This backup file, which uses the date and time it was made as its name, is in case your data file becomes corrupt for whatever reason.

These backup files also use the Blowfish encryption algorithm so that no none can use them to access your data.

What is the "Comments" edit box for?
This edit box is for any relevant comments you wish to include as it applies to the product in question. For example, if you bought a program online and you accepted the option of being able to download all future upgrades for a fee for 1 year, then you would state that in the Comments edit box, together with the date of when the year starts.

What is the progress bar at the bottom right for? And why are there 2 numbers like "7 /190"?
>Registration Backup is only able to accept entries that are 190 characters long in total. This means that the number of characters used by the "program name" + "registration name" + "program id" + "program key" + "url" + "comments" must be less than 190 characters in total.

The progress bar and the 2 sets of numbers (such as " 7 / 190") are there to help you know what your current number of characters is at any time.

This restriction exists because of the party product that I use that takes care of the encryption algorithm. Sadly, there is nothing I can do about it as, if it had been up to me, I would have made it such that there are no such restrictions.

FAQ Form

All Cattle Ramp Software Products

>Budget Manager

>Canary Standard

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>ExitWin

>E-Diary

>E-Diary Gold

>Login Backup

>International Time

>Password Generator

>Registration Backup

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