Support, help and instructions for abylon SHREDDER

To keep your computer clean, we must access with our software abylon SHREDDER every file on the hard disk. This comes very close to the behavior of a virus. For this reason our software is called by some virus scanners as alleged dangerous software. In such cases you should adjust your virus scanner in such a way that our software is excluded for the examination.

We have no influence on third-party software such as virus scanners. For this reason, you should also contact the virus scanner manufacturer directly with this request. For these cases, most programs offer a corresponding support function.

INFO For instructions on how to administer the virus scanner, please contact the virus scanner manufacturer directly or read their instructions.

Seit der Version 3 legt Firefox die Lesezeichen und den Verlauf in einer gemeinsamen Datei an? Um beim Entfernen des Internet-Verlaufes nicht auch die Lesezeichen zu löschen, müssen folgende Einstellungen vorgenommen werden: 

Vorgehen zur Abhilfe:

1. Öffnen des Firefox-Browser
2. In die Adresszeile about:config eingeben und ENTER drücken.
3. Hinweisseite bestätigen
4. In das Suchfeld (Filter) bookmarks eingeben
5. Folgen Einstellung von false auf true ändern. Dies erfolg durch einen Doppelklick:
   - browser.bookmarks.autoExportHTML
   - browser.places.importBookmarksHTML

Im Anschluss können Sie mit der Software abylon SHREDDER den Verlauf löschen ohne die Lesezeichen zu verlieren!

This problem occurs with invalid file names of Cookies, Chache or History entries of Internet Explorer.

These invalid file names may occur if the file names are too long or contain invalid characters. Many of these invalid file names are already intercepted and deleted by our software. This functionality is also improved from version to version. Unfortunately, in rare cases, the error message still occurs.

Procedure to remedy:

1. Open the Internet Explorer
2. Open the Internet options via the menu Extras
3. Switch to page General
4. Delete the Temporary Internet Files (switch Delete Cookies) and the History (switch Empty History)
once

Afterwards you can use the software abylon SHREDDER without further problems.

TIPP Afterwards you should clean up the free space of the hard disk once!

The speed of the deletion process depends mainly on the hardware used. On a fast hard disk, the shredding process is also faster.

Example values (older measurement)

On a Pentium 1 (350 MHz) PC with an 80 GB hard disk (7200 revolutions, 2 MB cache, average access time 8.9 ms).

Test 1:

30 GB - Shredder level 3 (overwrite 7 times) >> Required time 3 hours

Test 2:

10 GB - Shredder level 5 (overwrite 35 times) >> Required time 5 hours

INFO Compared to other products, the performance of the software abylon SHREDDER is very good!

This can have two reasons.

1. During the test phase of the software the function Shredd drive(s) is deactivated. In order to use this function, the software must be registered!
2. Additionally, to execute the function Shredd drive(s) Administrator rights are required! These can be requested via the Shield icon in the icon page in the top right corner.

The abylon SHREDDER offers different shredder levels for overwriting the data. These differ in the number of runs, whereby for example at level 5 the data is overwritten 35 times.

As a software manufacturer, we are not familiar with the complex technology of hard disk hardware down to the last detail. As far as we are informed, however, data storage on hard disk is a contactless magnetic process, so that in principle there should be no wear of the hard disk surface. It is correct, however, that a high shredder level places more extreme demands on the mechanical components of the hard disk and this could lead to an earlier failure of the hard disk.

For your information, already from a single overwriting of the data (shredder level 1), the recovery of the data with so-called recovery programs is no longer possible. In such cases the data can only be recovered in special laboratories. To make this more difficult, the abylon SHREDDER offers the further shredder levels.

NOTE Regarding the wear of the hard disk surface and the stress on the mechanical components, the corresponding hard disk manufacturer can certainly give you more detailed information.

Under certain circumstances it may happen that not all file names are correctly reset when cleaning drives.

This is occasionally the case:

1. On FAT drives
2. If files with the "normal" Windows Recycle Bin have been deleted
3. If the drive is not written to the last byte

The file contents are completely overwritten and can also be restored with recovery programs NOT more

In addition, some recovery programs do not distinguish between the drives (partitions) on hard disks, but recover ALL files on the entire hard disk (including non-partitioned areas). If, for example, you have split your hard disk into drives C and D and clean up the free space only on drive C, some recovery programs also recover the deleted files from drive D! In this case the free space should be cleared of all drives.

HINWEIS When cleaning drives you should not work on the computer or run programs anymore. Our software offers the possibility to shut down the computer automatically after the deletion process is finished.
HINWEIS When shredding directly with the abylon SHREDDER both the file contents and the file names will be deleted!

In the following cases the complete and drive icon is hidden in the abylon SHREDDER dialog, so that the corresponding functionalities are not available:

1. expiry of the test phase (30 days)
2. Context-related call, e.g. when shredding files from the File Explorer
3. Maybe missing administration rights
4. Complication with external software that intervenes very deeply in the system (e.g. Hard_Drive_Inspector_NE)

NOTE Drives completely shredded (total destruction) is only offered under NT based operating systems and not under Windows 98 and Me!

Aid:

1. Registration of the product (see e.g. Prices)
2. call the program via abylon SHREDDER icon on the desktop or in the start menu
3. Open the program under a user with administrator rights. At the top right of the icon bar, you can use the shield icon to switch to the administrator view.
4. Uninstall foreign software

In rare cases it can happen that after shredding the cluster tips on the system disk, the operating system reports corrupt system files and asks for a new installation. This message can be safely aborted. After booting the computer, this message no longer appears.

The reason for this message is that to delete the cluster tips (unused memory until the end of the last cluster), the file is expanded briefly until the end of the cluster. This change is immediately reversed so that the file content remains undamaged. However, the operating system notices this alleged change and therefore prompts for a new installation. However, as there are no real changes, shutting down and restarting the computer!

The ClusterTip cleanup temporarily expands the file size by the amount that corresponds to a multiple of the cluster size of the hard disk. One file is processed after the other, so that in case of a system crash only one file can have the wrong file size. This file has not been damaged or changed in the data structure.

The file size is usually reset by the application itself, so you can continue to use the file without any problems. If this is not the case, the file size must be reset manually, for example with a HEX-Editor.

The free space is cleaned up by creating temporary files. If the computer crashes, these temporary files can remain on the hard disk. A deletion of these temporary files is possible at any time without problems. For this you can also use the functionalities of the abylon SHREDDER.

The history list (history) is still displayed when Internet Explorer is open despite deletion. This is because Internet Explorer remembers the links internally. After closing and reopening Internet Explorer, the history list is no longer displayed.

Er überschreibt nur die gelöschten Daten. Dabei wird ihre Festplatte weder zerstört, noch wird sie dadurch langsamer oder ähnliches.

Sie sollten jedoch in bestimmten Abständen, z.B. jeden Monat einmal, Ihre Festplatte defragmentieren, um Leistungseinbußen zu verhindern.

The higher the setting, the more complex is the deletion process. It can take a long time until large files are destroyed. In any case, the deletion takes much longer with a high security than with the normal Windows trash can.

For this purpose, a mouse click event was inserted programmatically from version 19.10.1 and 2020.1 on. If there are problems with this, it can be switched on or off via the registry. To do this, under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\abylon\[PROGRAM NAME, e.g. ENTERPRISE]\FLAGS set the value FWACTIVATEWINDOW from YES to NO.

After the password entry the software displays the message "The entered password is wrong or the key file (certificate) does not belong to this object!". What is the reason for this?

Please check first whether the password was really entered correctly or the keyboard layout has changed.

Another possibility is that the password scrambler converts certain special characters into other characters. For this reason it is necessary in such cases to activate or deactivate the password scrambler according to the creation of the encrypted element. I.e., if the password scrambler was activated during encryption, it must also be activated during decryption.

The password scrambler must be deactivated in any case if a password or the SecureID are entered into the password field via Copy&Paste. Otherwise, the program will not recognize a keyboard entry and the password field will remain empty.

The SecureID is a so-called emergency password. If the chip card or USB stick is defective or lost, this can be entered as an alternative for decryption.
The SecureID is determined during the encryption process on the page 'Key management >SYMM-System'.
The SecureID is identical for each encrypted object (abylon KEYSAFE, abylon CRYPTDRIVE, abylon BASIC, abylon SHAREDDRIVE) and is built as follows:

# + 32 characters + . + 32 characters + # 
(characters only numbers 0-9 or letters A-F; e.g. #A54E1CB23F31464AC3B7D65F4557C1D1D. 50F4B4A9EC30705944EB12870284C419#

NOTE
- Starting with version 8.3, both upper and lower case letters can be entered. In older versions the input is Case-Sensitive.
- The password scrambler should be deactivated for input!
- The SecureID should be stored in a secure place!
- The SecureIDs are different for encryption and Windows logon.

A "brute force attack" means trying out all possible character combinations of passwords. For example, the process starts with 00000001 and then continues with 00000002, 00000003, 00000004.... A password that has only 4 digits and consists only of numbers can easily be "cracked" within a few seconds. A good password should consist of at least 12 characters with lower case letters, upper case letters, numbers and special characters. In addition, no words from dictionaries, names or relevant password databases should be used. If you follow these rules, you can be sure that it will not be possible to decrypt the protected data economically in the foreseeable future.

Unfortunately / fortunately it is not possible to open protected data without the corresponding password. I.e., the software of abylonsoft offers neither a back door nor a so-called "general key". If you have lost your password, you can no longer access your stored data. 

You should remember the used passwords well and possibly write them down in a secret place. However, this should not be on the hard disk or near the computer. Alternatively, so-called password managers (such as abylon KEYSAFE) offer the possibility to store the different passwords in a secure database. In this case you only have to remember a password

An insecure password is always a date of birth, a nickname, a name in principle or any other word that is frequently used or that is in the dictionary.

A secure password is a password consisting of several random characters, e.g. myz<_/k)),%06YLbcw3pU. It consists of special characters ( ! "§$%&/()==?´*?+#´\ß^.;:_@<>|{[]}), numbers (1234567890), uppercase letters (QWERTZUIOPÜÄÖLKJHGFDSAYXCVBNM) and lowercase letters (qwertzuiopüäölkjhgfdsayxcvbnm).

If you cannot remember such a password, you can use a trick. Although the password is not as secure as the previous one, it is still much more secure than "Otto" or "Müller". And this is how it works. Think of a long sentence that you can easily remember, such as : I live in the model city 134b. My phone number is 123456789.  Now simply take the first letters / characters from this sentence. In this case that would be? IwidM1.Mti1.?. However, you should make sure that at least some numbers and special characters are present in the sentence. In addition you must pay attention to upper and lower case.

To create a really secure password, you should use the integrated password generator. You can find it for example in abylon KEYSAFE.

Workaround via flag in the registry

Open the Windows registry (for instructions, see the glossar) and change under X the value REG_SZ Y from YES to NO!

This change launches the .NET framework via an alternate call.

In this case we can offer the following workarounds.

1. Check plugins

Open the settings dialog and switch to the "Explorer Plugins Settings" page. Check here whether the corresponding PlugIn is activated (check mark).

2. Disable / activate modules

Open the settings dialog and switch to the "Explorer Plugins" page. First deactivate the plugins via the traffic light icon. Then you can activate the plugins again.

3. Registration of the Plugin-DLL

Start the command line entry with administration rights (Start -> Run -> cmd.exe). Then change to the abylon program directory (with cd). Enter here the command "regsvr32 [Plugin-Dll].
". As a plugin dll, enter the following files:

- abylon BASIC: 32bit = APMBOle.DLL, 64bit = APMBOleX64.DLL
- abylon READER: 32bit = APMROle.DLL, 64bit = APMROleX64.DLL
- abylon ENTERPRISE: 32bit = APMPOle.DLL, 64bit = APMPOleX64.DLL
- abylon SHREDDER: 32bit = SAWOle.DLL, 64bit = SAWOleX64.DLL

4. Check if all registry entries are present

Open the registry editor (Start -> Run -> regedit.exe) and check if the following 10 entries exist. The menu is only displayed in the File Explorer if all values are present and there are no errors.

1. HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\ShellEx\ContextMenuHandlers\apmcrypt -> REG_SZ: ID see below
2. HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{ID see below} -> REG_SZ: apmcrypt
3rd HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\background\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\apmcrypt -> REG_SZ: {ID see below}
4. HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\apmcrypt -> REG_SZ: {ID see below}
5. HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\apmcrypt -> REG_SZ: {ID see below}
6th HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\*\ShellEx\ContextMenuHandlers\apmcrypt -> REG_SZ: {ID see below}
7. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{ID see below} -> REG_SZ: apmcrypt
8. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\Directroy\background\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\apmcrypt -> REG_SZ: {ID see below}
9. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\Directory\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\apmcrypt -> REG_SZ: {ID see below}
10th HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\Ddrive\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\apmcrypt -> REG_SZ: {ID see below}

The following IDs must be used for the individual programs:
- abylon READER = {5fbcd2e0-73dd-11ce-993c-43aa004adb6c}
- abylon BASIC = {5fbcd2e0-73dd-11ce-993c-42aa004adb6c}
- abylon ENTERPRISE = {5fbcd2e0-73dd-11ce-993c-41aa004adb6c}
- abylon SHREDDER = {5fbcd2e0-73dd-11ce-993c-00aa004adb6c}

Usually, with abylonsoft software, the new version can be installed over the old version. This is also the case if the setup asks in advance and offers the uninstall option. If an over-installation for any reason is not possible, so you will be pointed out during installation. In this case no other option is offered.

Yes, because during the installation the software has to make some settings for which only the administrator has rights. So log in for the installation as an administrator or contact your responsible administrator.

Possible cause of error:

1. You have entered the registration data incorrectly! The safest way is to copy and paste the name and the registration key from the email directly into the registration dialog of our software.
2. Each license key is created individually for each program and each version. Check whether your registration data are also intended for the version you have installed!

Updates in the same major version number are free. Updates to the next major version number are subject to an update fee. If you have any questions or problems with us you are welcome to contact us in Kontakt.

This is because when a new user is created, Windows first creates the registry and makes entries. Since our software also has to make registry entries, an operating system restart is required for proper operation.

If this error occurs, you should manually download and install the setup from the download page. All settings of the previous version will be adopted.

This error is caused by the rights management under Windows

• If you open a file, the error message The path is not available is displayed.
• If you open a folder, the error message Unhandled exception in the application - The root folder cannot be retrieved is displayed.