FOX Password Safe

FOX Password Safe is a reliable, secure and essential tool that allows you to safely and easily store all your passwords, web site logins and other important information. It uses totally secure AES 256 bit encryption to keep your information safe. You can also encrypt documents or files and hide them to keep them safe.

Registration

You are entitled to use FOX Password Safe free of charge for 30 days to evaluate it. You must then buy a registration code or uninstall the software. To buy a registration code you can click the 'Help/Buy FOX Password Safe' menu. To enter your registration number click the 'Help/Enter Registration Code' menu and fill out your name, company name if applicable and enter the serial number you received.

Getting Started

When FOX Password Safe is first loaded it displays a 'Create New Database' dialog. If you have just installed you will need to create a new database. Browse for a safe location to store your database file. (Somewhere you will not accidentally delete it from.) Then enter a password for this database. You will need to repeat the password to ensure you did not mistype it. You need to write down this password and keep it somewhere safe. (You can also print out your database and the password will be printed along with the database name.) The next time you run FOX Password Safe you will need to re-enter this password in the 'Select Database To Load' dialog to load your database.

If you leave the 'Create default categories in new database' button checked the new database will automatically create three default categories. To add new categories click 'Create New Category' from the 'File' menu. You can enter a name like 'Banking', 'Web sites', 'Email' etc. After you create a category you can add new entries to it. Select your category and then click 'Create New Entry' from the 'File' menu.

A 'Choose Entry Type' dialog is then displayed. You can choose to create a username and password type entry or a credit card entry. If you want to safely store and have easy access to your credit card details choose 'Credit card details entry'. For all other types of passwords and information choose 'Username and password logon entry'.

The 'Create New Entry' dialog is then displayed with your selected category entered as the first item. Category and description are the only mandatory fields. The other information you wish to store is optional. Click the 'Generate Password' button if you wish FOX Password Safe to generate a secure password for you. You can choose to have the auto password generator not use confusing characters like 'o' or 'O' by adding these to the 'Exclude these characters' field.

New entry dialog.

To save your online email or banking details you would typically enter your username, password and the online web sites url. You need to enter your password twice to ensure you did not mistype it. You can also click the 'Show Password' button to see the characters you enter. If you do not check password 'Never expires' you will automatically get a reminder to change your password on the expiration date. Changing passwords regularly is a good habit to get into. FOX Password Safe will automatically store your previous password as a safety precaution incase you forget it when you logon to change to your new password. By default FOX Password Safe will secure your web browser when you load a web site by clicking the 'Load web site' button on the toolbar. It will stop Internet Explorer from loading other programs (browser helper objects) where a lot of spyware intercepts your private information and passwords.

When creating new credit card entries select the category you wish this entry stored under. e.g. 'Credit Cards'. The only mandatory field is 'Enter a description'. You can then choose what other information you wish to store in this entry. When a credit card entry is displayed all fields have a little 'Copy text to clipboard' icon displayed next to them. If you click this icon the relevant information is copied to the Windows clipboard allowing you to easily paste the information into a web page etc.

New credit card entry.

New encrypted file entry.

When you select a new encrypted file entry you will see the dialog above. You need to click the 'Browse' button to select the file you wish to encrypt. Check 'Hide filename' if you want to obscure the filename. The file will be given some random filename to hide the actual filename. Fill in a description, password and any other details you wish and click 'Encrypt'.

Your file will then be encrypted. Just double click the entry in the left window of FOX Password Safe to automatically unencrypt and load your file. After you have finished with the unencrypted file right click on the file entry and click 'Encrypt file entry' from the popup menu. You can also click 'Encrypt any unencrypted files' from the tool bar to encrypt any unencrypted files.

FOX Password Safe Menus

FOX Password Safe has three sets of menus and toolbar buttons you can use to suit your needs. There are menus in the main toolbar, pop up menus when you right mouse click in the window panes and also an icon in the Windows system tray you can right mouse click for pop up menus.

Toolbar Menus

File Menu

Open Database - will open the 'Load Database' dialog, allowing you to open a database or create a new database.

Create New Database - will open the 'Create New Database' dialog.

Change Database Password - will allow you to change the password for your current database.

Backup Database - will save a separate copy of the database to your selected location.

Restore Database - will restore your database from a backup source.

Create New Category - will display the 'Enter New Category' dialog, allowing you to add a new category to the list.

Create New Entry - will display the 'Create New Entry' dialog, allowing you to enter your new item details.

Print - this will print out your password list along with the database name and password. You should print out the list and keep it somewhere safe.

Print Preview - shows you a preview of the page before it is printed.

Print Setup - allows you to configure your printer.

Edit Menu

Copy Username to Clipboard - will copy the selected items username to clipboard memory. Allowing you to paste it.

Copy Password to Clipboard - will copy the selected items password to clipboard memory. Allowing you to paste it.

Empty Password from Clipboard - will empty the Windows clipboard removing any passwords.

Edit Selected Category - will pop up the 'Edit Category' dialog allowing you to change the categories name.

Edit Selected Entry - will pop up the 'Edit Entry' dialog allowing you to change any of the items details.

Delete Selected Entry - will delete the selected entry.

Encrypt file entry - this will encrypt the selected entry if it is unencrypted.

Unencrypt file entry - this will decrypt the selected entry if it is encrypted.

Tools Menu

Lock Down Web Browser - this will disable Internet Explorers browser helpers making your browser more secure for online transactions.

Restore Browser to Default - will restore your previous browser settings.

Load Selected Web Site - will load the selected items web site if applicable.

Unencrypt backed up file - this will display a dialog that allows you to decrypt any file previously encrypted with FOX Password Safe. It allows you to decrypt a file you may have backed up and removed the entry for.

Options - This will display the 'Options' dialog where you can customize FOX Password Safe to suit your needs.

Help Menu

About FOX Password Safe - will display the about dialog. This dialog will display the registration details. It allows you to register and order a registration code online.

Online Help Page - will load this web page.

System Tray Icon Menus

Show/Hide FOX Password Safe - will show or hide the application in the Windows system tray.

Load web site: - will display a pop up menu containing all your web sites, allowing you to easily load them from the tray icon.

Open Database - will open the 'Load Database' dialog, allowing you to open a database or create a new database.

Change Database Password - will allow you to change the password for your current database.

Copy Username to Clipboard - will copy the selected items username to clipboard memory. Allowing you to paste it.

Copy Password to Clipboard - will copy the selected items password to clipboard memory. Allowing you to paste it.

Empty Password from Clipboard - will empty the Windows clipboard removing any passwords.

Encrypt any unencrypted files - will encrypt any decrypted files.

Options - This will display the 'Options' dialog where you can customize FOX Password Safe to suit your needs.

Exit - will close the application and remove the system task tray icon.

Right Mouse Click Pop up Menus

Copy Username to Clipboard - will copy the selected items username to clipboard memory. Allowing you to paste it.

Copy Password to Clipboard - will copy the selected items password to clipboard memory. Allowing you to paste it.

Empty Password from Clipboard - will empty the Windows clipboard removing any passwords.

Create New Category - will display the 'Enter New Category' dialog, allowing you to add a new category to the list.

Create New Entry - will display the 'Create New Entry' entry dialog, allowing you to enter your new item details.

Edit Selected Category - will pop up the 'Edit Category' dialog allowing you to change the categories name.

Edit Selected Entry - will pop up the 'Edit Entry' dialog allowing you to change any of the items details.

Delete Selected Entry - will delete the selected entry.

Toolbar Buttons

Open an Existing Database - will open the 'Load Database' dialog, allowing you to open a database or create a new database.

Create a New Password Entry - will display the 'Create New Entry' entry dialog, allowing you to enter your new item details.

Edit Selected Entry - will pop up the 'Edit Entry' dialog allowing you to change any of the items details.

Delete Selected Item - will delete the selected entry.

Copy Username to Clipboard - will copy the selected items username to clipboard memory. Allowing you to paste it.

Copy Password to Clipboard - will copy the selected items password to clipboard memory. Allowing you to paste it.

Empty Clipboard - will empty the Windows clipboard removing any passwords.

Print - this will print out your password list along with the database name and password. You should print out the list and keep it somewhere safe.

Load Web Site - will load your selected items web site in the default browser. By default it will also pop up a password dialog allowing you to easily enter your username and password.

Show popup password window - will display your username and password in a small pop up dialog.

Show Search Bar - will load the search toolbar. Just enter a word in the search toolbar and click the search button or hit enter. Only entries containing the search word will be shown.

Options Dialog

To display the options dialog click 'Options' from the 'Tools' menu. You can change the default settings to suit you, as below.

Auto run and Windows system tray settings

Automatically run when Windows starts - check this option if you want FOX Password Safe to start when Windows loads.

Keep icon in Windows system tray when closed - this will hide the program in the system tray allowing you easy access to your passwords.

Only load icon in Windows system tray when started - only an icon in the Windows system tray will be shown when the application is first run.

Empty passwords from memory when application is closed - this will empty the clipboard and remove any passwords when you exit the application.

Empty passwords when minimized to system tray

Do not empty passwords from memory when in Windows system tray - this will not empty the clipboard and passwords when the application is minimized to the system tray.

Empty passwords from memory when in Windows system tray - the clipboard and passwords will be emptied when the application is minimized to the Windows system tray.

Empty passwords from memory when in Windows system tray after x minutes - the clipboard and passwords will be emptied when the application is minimized to the Windows system tray after the elapsed time period.

Web browser settings

Popup password dialog when loading a web site - this will popup a small always on top window with your username and password when a web site is launched from the application. The window remembers the last position you drag it to.

Hide in Windows system tray after loading a web site - after you launch a web site from the application it will automatically be minimized to the system tray.

Web browser lock down settings when loading selected web sites

Automatically restore default browser security settings after x minutes - default browser settings will be restored after the selected time of you launching a web site. Allowing you secure access to important sites then restoring your browser plug-ins for normal web browsing.

Leave browser secure until I restore it - the browser will be locked down when launching a web site from the application and you will need to restore the browser to the default settings from the 'Tools' menu.

New entry settings

Password never expires as default for new entries - when creating a new entry, the 'Never expires' button will be checked by default.

Password expires after x days for new entries - new entries will have a default expire period of x days.

(NB. Current version only increases security for Microsoft Internet Explorer web browser).

Hints

When an entry is displayed there may be icons next to some information. Clicking these icons allows you to easily copy text to the clipboard, show to hide a password and load a web page.

To paste text to a web browser copy the text to the windows clipboard using the 'Copy text to clipboard' icon, click on the web browser field you wish the text pasted to. Then hold down the 'control' key on your keyboard and press the 'v' key. (Control v) Is the easiest was to paste text in most applications.

Email steve@stevefoxover.com if you have further questions.