Keyserver
Default setting: (PGP setting)
Here you may enter the default keyserver (the first one on PGP's list) this program uses to download keys from. The selection box offers possible protocols, the following edit box takes the server's name (like www.keyserver.net, e.g.), and the last box may take a port number (up to five digits) if necessary (for HTTP-servers this usually is 11371, for LDAP-servers 389).
Private keyring
Default setting: (taken from PGP's configuration)
Private keyring contains the full path and filename of your actual secret keyring. This setting does not change the path in PGP's own configuration file.
Public keyring
Default setting: (taken from PGP's configuration)
Public keyring contains the full path and filename of your actual public keyring. This setting does not change the path in PGP's own configuration file.
Groups file
Default setting: (if groups exist)
Groups file contains the full path and name of the file containing key groups (PGP 9.x doesn't provide this feature - but if there's still a group file available from PGP 8.x you may continue using it). This file only exists if you have previously created groups in PGP. This setting does not change the path in PGP's own configuration file.
Default sign key
Default setting: (taken from PGP's configuration)
This configuration parameter specifies the default secret key to be used for signatures. By default the secret key defined within PGP will be used. If more secret keys are available you may select one out of the list provided. The change will not affect PGP's default setting. See Always use default key for more details.
Always use default key
Default setting: off
By default the extension will try to select the signing key by matching the email address of your current Pegasus Mail identity to the first secret key on your keyring having this email address attached. If you always want your default sign key to be used you should enable this option. This does not affect the capability of selecting a different key in the passphrase dialog.
Hash algorithms for signing / Use RIPEMD with RSA keys
Default setting: off
The default hash algorithms used by PGP for signing are MD5 with old RSA (legacy) and SHA-1 with any other (new RSA or DH/DSS) keys. As there's evidence that MD5 has some weakness you may choose RIPEMD-160 for signing with RSA keys. Be advised, though, that doing so will break compatibility with PGP versions prior to 5.x. Since PGP 9.5.x some additional SHA algorithms are available for all key types (details about SHA).
Comment
Default setting: (taken from PGP's configuration)
If you want to add a short unencrypted comment to your encrypted data, it should be specified here. The output will look like:
-----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE----- Version: PGP x.y.z Comment: This is a comment (... your encrypted data ...) -----END PGP MESSAGE-----
Number of lines to scan
Recommended: at least 25
Pegasus Mail can always recognize encodings generated by other copies of Pegasus Mail, but encodings generated by other mail applications can be harder to find. When it opens your new mail folder, Pegasus Mail does a short scan into each message to see if it can find any obvious signs of encodings: The number of lines Pegasus Mail should scan into the message is controlled by this field.
Note that using the menu entries provided for searching for signatures and keys always do a full scan of the message and will find any there may be - this option really only affects the likelihood of the encoding marker being found. Setting this field to a larger value will slow down the process of opening the new mail folder. You may use the Check length button to check a folder with received mails for the actual header length.
Right margin in editor
Recommended: at least 65
This field allows you to specify the average length of a line of text in your message. Pegasus Mail will adjust the margin of the message editor so that approximately the number of characters you specify will fit on a line. There's also an option called Use exact charakter measurement for right margin under Tools | Options | Message settings (in Pegasus Mail v3) that cannot be accessed from outside Pegasus Mail but should be activated as well. These settings assure that the mailer doesn't destroy the PGP armoring and this way disables any decoding of encoded messages or keys.
NB: In Pegasus Mail v4 this will only work correctly if Disable all text styling options is activated under Tools | Options | Message formatting. Otherwise you have to set the line lenght in mm or inches which causes the actual number of characters per line to depend on the used font face and size.
Auto encryption
Default setting: on
To get this option working you have to provide a list of email addresses and/or aliases by editing the file AutoList.txt. This can be done by clicking the Edit AutoList button in Pegasus Mail, a description is contained within the sample file that is opened. In effect this means that everytime you click the Send button in an editor window the encryption process will be initiated automatically for addresses listet on the AutoList (see help manual).
Auto key selection
Default setting: off
Enabling this option will cause the program to only show the selection list of key ID's if there is more than one key or no matching key at all for the address. In some very rare cases this might result in selecting the wrong key as it's not totally impossible that an email address is assigned to several recipients. Furthermore you don't get the chance to individually encrypt attachments, but you may change this by deactivating the option Encrypt/Sign Attachments.
Encrypt to self
Default setting: on
Automatically include your own key when encrypting messages to other recipients so you can still decrypt them after having been sent or queued. NB: Pegasus Mail only stores unencrypted copies to self; for storing encrypted ones you may add a permanent BCC address on Tools | Options | Sending mail and filter such messages to your copy-to-self folder.
Encrypt/Sign attachments
Default setting: on
With this option set you can assure that attachments always will be encrypted along with an email. Otherwise for every single attachment you will be asked whether to encrypt it or not. This setting is especially valuable if Auto key selection is activated as in this case you don't get the chance to cancel encryption of any part of your message.
Encryption confirmation
Default setting: off
If you're working with Auto key selection enabled you don't get any hint on the processing any more like with the key ID dialog popping up otherwise. This option will make an info dialog show up at the end of successful encryption besides the description on Pegasus Mail's status bar.
Mixed options warning
Default setting: on
Having this one enabled will show a warning whenever you're about to send out encrypted and unencrypted (or sign-only) messages to several recipients at once due to the address options set on the AutoList as this would screw up the purpose of encryption in general. You may then either cancel processing, send all messages unencrypted or proceed without changes.
ADK warning
Default setting: on
This option provides a warning dialog for cancelling encryption of a message to a recipient's key having one or more ADKs. These keys enable third persons to decrypt encrypted messages actually not meant for them.
ADK = Additional Decryption Key, see PGP help.
Auto key check
Default setting: off
By default the frontend only checks emails automatically for encoded (= otherwise unreadable) data. With this option enabled keys will be detected as well (in non-preview-mode), depending on how many lines to scan you configured in Pegasus Mail. These keys can be automatically added to PGP's keyring as well as the AutoList.
Auto server look-up
Default setting: off
If a key for verifying a signature can not be found on your keyring this option enables an automated search on the keyservers defined in PGP's configuration. Any matching key found may be added to your keyring - but verifying the signature will even be possible without doing so.
MIME decoding on mail download
Default setting: off
There are alternative ways of handling such messages if you prefer not to enable this option or decryption has been cancelled, for details see the respective section of the help manual.
Remove signature data
Default setting: on
With this option enabled signature data will be removed when showing a signed message. For these signatures you may select (using the additional radio buttons) one out of three different ways of showing the verification result to you: not at all, within the message reader or in a separate window. The signature code will not be shown in both cases but still remains stored with the message and will be visible after activating Show all headers from the Reader menu or Show raw message data from the context menu in Pegasus Mail v3 (or on the raw view tab in v4 provided you open each PGP message in a new reader window).
If you disable this option you can achieve verifying of signatures or detection of keys by using the menu entries (or toolbar buttons, if enabled) that Pegasus Mail provides (see help manual). The reader window (and the status bar in preview mode, hovering the mouse on top of it will show all information) will always indicate the signature status using a special window icon (a little key at the upper left indicates that the message is encrypted, a plus or minus sign at the bottom right indicates whether the key owner has been verified; for S/MIME signatures the latter indicates the validity of the certificate chain which includes a verification of the key owner by the certificate issuers).
Cache passphrase
Default setting: (taken from PGP's configuration*)
This is a special option allowing you to cache your passphrase for signing or decrypting messages, so you don't have to retype it for every single message again. If you disable this option the memory will be cleaned up. Applicable settings:
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The timer is restarted every time you're using the passphrase within the given interval. It will only be erased after not using it during that time.
WARNING: Although the passphrase will be encrypted and only cached in memory this is a security risk. You're strongly requested to not enable this option if unauthorized persons can have access to your computer or network and internet connections are open!
* Under PGP 6.5.x the settings will be evaluated like follows: Caching will only be activated if both caches (for decrypting and signing) are enabled in PGP, and the timeout seconds will be set to the mean value of both settings.
Wipe count
Default setting: (taken from PGP's configuration)
This option indicates the number of passes you want to apply for wiping temporary files created by Pegasus Mail while processing messages to en- or decrypt. For hints about a reasonable value see PGP help.
Show local time on status bar
Default setting: time only
If there's enough space available on Pegasus Mail's status bar you may have the local time with or without the current date shown on there. Double-clicking this area will try to synchronize the system time with the selected timeserver.
Timeserver and port
Default setting: (see below)
On Windows XP or later the registry provides timeserver entries being evaluated for this setting. If no server can be found time.windows.com will be preselected. The port is set to 123 according to various RFCs (2030, e.g.).
Synchronize system clock on program start
Default setting: off
If desired you may automatically synchronize your system clock with the selected timeserver whenever Pegasus Mail starts. You may test this feature by enabling and double-clicking the time display on Pegasus Mail's status bar: It requires proper access rights on your machine and an active connection to the respective timeserver's network (Internet, LAN etc.).