History - Password Agent

Changes in 2.6.2

CHANGED: Verison 2.6 intoduced new password input boxes that had key logger prevention feature activated by default. User response showed that many people had compatibility problems with this setting, causing valid master password being often rejected. From now on default password input box type is "Custom without key logger prevention" and users can activate key logger prevention feature by themselves if required or revert to classic password input box for maximum compatibility.
CHANGED: Changing password input box type option in Unlock window now changes global option. Next time you see Unlock window it defaults to last used setting.
FIXED: Lock timer minimised program when no data file was open and if there were any modal dialogs displayed these were still hidden when application was restored, rendering main application window unresponsible.

Changes in 2.6.1

New

Option "Master password input box type" that allows one to disable key logger prevention function introduced in version 2.6.0. You can change this option under program options and also override for one login in Unlock window. See help file for explanation about available choices.

Changes in 2.6.0

New

Windows 7 compatible
Unlock and Set Master Password windows where you enter master password are doing some additional work behind the scenes to combat spy programs and key loggers. The password you type is not recorded by key loggers in plain text as it was typed. Instead, Password Agent will generate random characters after each key press, so it is more difficult to detect real password that you entered. However, as it is not possible to hide keyboard input from key logging programs your real typed characters will still be captured by logger (among fake ones), so if logger can record several password entries over time, real master password can be discovered after some analysis. Edit box for master password does not have ES_PASSWORD style, it does not allow copy & paste and does not give away your real typed password in response to WM_GETTEXT message.
With each failed attempt to open data file with invalid password open procedure will be delayed by additional 3 seconds. So after trying to open the file with wrong password for 10th time you’ll need to wait 30 seconds until you can try again. Even if you close the program between attempts the delay will not be reset. It will be reset if you restart Windows. You can enter invalid password 1 time without delay (lets forgive a typing error ;).
If wrong password has been entered more than 2 times before file is finally opened with correct password, you’ll see message box telling you that someone has tried to get access to your file. This feature only records attempts that are made on local computer since start of current Windows session.
QuickSearch options button on toolbar allows you to select which fields QuickSearch searches. By default it only searches Title field (like in previous versions) but you can now also search User ID, Password, Link and Note fields (any combination). You can also display the options menu via Ctrl+Alt+Q keyboard shortcut.
Added Copy Link command into Entry menu and conext menu.
Option "Show full data file path in Unlock window", default value is "yes". Previously only filename without path was displayed in Unlock window, so if you prefer that simpler look you can un-select this option.
Pressing keyboard keys when list is focused jumps to first entry starting with this letter and now scolls list so found item is topmost entry in the list, not at bottom.
Shows error message when trying to import data file into itself.
Shows warning when trying to save user ID or password that contains curly brackets ({ or }) as these symbols are used for autofill variables and these break autofill.
Link field supports $USERID and $PASSWORD variables. When CopyLink or Open Link command is invoked, variables will be replaced with real ID and password values. Test Link button in Item Properties window does not support variables. This feature is not official and is not documented.

Changed/updated

Find / Find Next commands moved from Tools menu to Entry menu.
Added field names to printout and fields are now separated by |, double quotes around fields values are removed.
When entering key code on Vista/7 now more detailed help text will appear if user does not have admin privileges due to Windows UAC (User Account Control).
When "Minimize to system tray" option is selected then now tray icon is only displayed when application is minimized. Previously tray icon was displayed even when application was visible on the taskbar. Removed "Close to system tray" option.
Help | Copy System Info command now contains more information about new operating systems.
Updated documentation about new features and replaced screenshots with hi-color ones.

Fixed

All labels in Entry Properties window now look nice with large fonts.

Changes in 2.5.1

Changed

Restored "Copy User ID" and "Copy Password" toolbar buttons that were removed in 2.5.0

Fixed

Main window was moving up/left on startup when Windows taskbar or application toolbars were set up on top or left side of the screen.

Changes in 2.5.0

New

Vista compatible.
Complete UI graphics overhaul. Alpha-bended hi-color toolbar button images and other graphics (only on XP or newer with at least 16-bit color).
Multiple monitor support: start application on the same monitor where it was closed. If last saved position is off screen (i.e. one monitor removed), will display on default screen. You can also specify option not so save window position to make it to start on one certain position.
Tweaked Password Generator to generate better passwords in quick mode and added option to specify what "other" symbols to include when generating passwords.
Rightmost column will now autosize to all remaining space.
On Main tab in Options window items that are changed from defaults are highlighted by different color. That way it is easy to see what options you have changed from defaults.
Now files that are opened in shared mode (someone in your network has already opened the file) are completely read-only (all actions that modify data are disabled).
Browser AutoComplete warning. If target web browser is Internet Explorer and it has AutoComplete for passwords enabled, Password Agent will show warning message.
Into Entry Properties window added field that displays date the entry was created (some entries created with very early versions of Password Agent 1.x did not record this date so for these no date is displayed).
In Properties window, when edit box has focus, Ctrl+A keyboard shortcut will select all text in the edit box.
Several new keyboard shortcuts: Ctrl+G = new group, Alt+W = close file, Alt+O = program options, Alt+Q = cancel quicksearch (to set focus to QS box use Ctrl+Q or when QS not active Alt+Q also works).

Changed

When file is opened, default input focus is now in QuickSearch box, so you can start typing there immediately.
"Hide Sensitive Information" menu item renamed to "Mask Sensitive Data Columns"
Sort direction image on column header control is reversed to act similar to Windows.
Some less used toolbar buttons removed to offer cleaner interface (actions can still be accesed by keyboard or menu).
Reduced group folder colors to 5 main colors.
Goodwill mode that made full version of the program available to users from certain countries removed due to lacking user feedback.

Fixed

Erratic autofill to Internet Explorer 7.
Pop-up windows are now entirely displayed if part of main application is off screen or close to screen edge.
Password Agent window will not quickly flash on screen when autofill is invoked by keyboard shortcut and "Minimize After Autofill" option is set.
Text of last toolbar section that shows count of entries was truncated when large system fonts were used.

Changes in 2.3.4

New

As an experiment, we make Password Agent available in most countries free of charge and only people in about 15 countries with highest living standard are asked to pay for it. For more info see http://www.moonsoftware.com/goodwill

Improved

Removed 40-character password length limit from Password Generator.

Fixed

When system uses large fonts, some text in program windows is truncated.
After Windows Explorer crash tray icon is lost.
TakeWithMe wizard did not resolve disk label correctly if that contained international accented characters and there were difference in character case between real label and the label specified in the wizard.
When focus is in QuickSearch box and there is also something typed, pressing Ctrl+Left or Ctrl+Right arrow keys now move cursor in QuickSearch box instead of expanding/collapsing groups tree.
When quick search is not active but focus is in QuickSearch box, pressing Esc key will now carry on default Esc key action you have specified in program options (default is to minimize program), the same that happens when focus is in any other control on screen.
In Entry Properties window, when focus was in Notes field and Esc key was pressed, the window did not close.
Spelling error "impoted entries" in Import CSV window.

Changes in 2.3.3

Fixed

Occassional "Cannot focus to a disabled or invisible window" error message. This problem was introduced in the previous version 2.3.2.
On some cases, when using global autofill shortcut key when Properties window was open, Properties window remained on screen after the program was locked.
"File | TakeWithMe" and "File | Backup/copy to" functions now support copying files that have NTFS "encrypted" attribute set to a non-NTFS partition (only under Windows XP or better).

Changes in 2.3.2

Improved

You can now scroll either groups tree or entries listing using mouse wheel without focusing them first. For example if groups tree has focus but your mouse is over entries listing and you use the wheel, entries list is scrolled and focus remains in the groups tree.
Registry files resulting from Tools | Export Settings command are now Windows 9x compatible, so you can easily copy settings from Windows XP machine to Windows 9x machine for example.

Fixed

Security issue where on some occassions part or entire master password was visible in memory (and accessible using special tools). This issue affected local computer memory only, not your password database files on disk. Due to this fix we advise everyone to install this version.
If context menu of entries list was invoked using the keyboard (Menu key or Shift-F10), commands in the menu were disabled.
When password database file had NTFS "Encrypt" attribute set and manually selected backup file location was on non-NTFS/network partition, making backup failed with Windows error message "The specified file could not be encrypted".
Keyboard shortcut Alt-Q to activate QuickSearch box did not work on Windows 9x systems. Added alternate Ctrl-Q shortcut.

Changes in 2.3.1

Fixed

Now file permissions are preserved after editing a password database file. Previously after modifying a .pwa file, its permissions were reverted to folder defaults.
After unlocking the program it will now properly select previously selected group and entry (if there was something selected when locking the program).
Open Link command failed with URLs that contained ".exe". The program assumed these were links to an executable file in local system.
Some menu drawing problems on Windows XP (menu image backgrounds were black when themes were disabled).

Improved

Now displays error message if out of bounds integer value is entered in Options window. Previously just changed to default value.

Changes in 2.3.0

New

TakeWithMe wizard, helps to copy the program and your data to a removable disk (USB flash disk etc) so you can take it with you. You can now use Unlimited version directly from removable disk, no need to have installed it in target computer.
Variable {WAIT n} wan be used in autofill template to pause autofill for n milliseconds. {WAIT} without params defaults to 500 milliseconds (0.5 sec).
"Check for update" option allows the program to remind you to check for program update after specified time period.
Can configure what will happen when Esc key is pressed (minimize, lock, close, hide sensitive information).
"Autofill password only" system-wide hotkey added, defaults to Ctrl+Shift+S.
Date picker control in Entry Properties window has new popup menu that contains commands to quickly advance expire date by specified amount like "15 days", "1 month", "6 months" etc. But the best thing is that you can customize the time periods that the menu contains via template under program options.
Backspace, Alt+Left shortcuts and IntelliMouse Back button will move to parent group. If quick search is active, it will cancel QS.
File | Reopen list has "Clear list" command.
Now supports CF_CLIPBOARD_VIEWER_IGNORE clipboard format to notify clipboard manager programs to not to capture copied text. This feature works only with clipboard managers that support the CF_CLIPBOARD_VIEWER_IGNORE data type.
* on numpad can toggle "Show Sensitive Info".
"Go to Owner Group" command in popup menu of entries list allows quickly go to group that holds selected entry.
"Export Settings" in Tools menu will export Password Agent registry key into a *.REG file, so you can easily transfer program options to another computer.
Option "Clear page file on shutdown" instructs Windows to clear page file on shutdown (Windows NT/2000/XP and admin privileges required).
Help file has new topics that discuss overall security concerns ("How secure?") and Password Agent security scheme is also published ("Security scheme").
Some new entry type images added to Entry Properties window.

Improved

"Autofill password only" shortcut changed to Ctrl+S (from Ctrl+P), "Copy Password" shortcut changed to Ctrl+Alt+S (from Ctrl+Alt+P). These new shortcuts provide simpler one hand operation.
All sensitive data that is kept in memory is now encrypted, to minimize the chance it will end up in your swap file or memory dump. Many internal changes have been made. See "Security scheme" help topic for more information.
Now will remember selected entry between lock/unlock functions. The entry that was selected when file was locked will be selected again when the file is unlocked.
When making duplicate of entry titled "Title", new title is now "Title (duplicate)" instead of "Duplicate of Title". That way it will be sorted right after original entry and is easier to manage.
The entries list is now focused by default, so mouse wheel and keyboard arrows can be used without first activating the list.
Includes workaround for Opera 7 web browser. Opera 7 uses new custom input controls and these are not very friendly to receive input from other programs (compared to standard input controls used by most other programs).
Layout of Password Generator changed, added option to shuffle password that is generated by template.

Fixed

Alt-U keyboard shortcut did not work in properties window.

Changes in 2.2.1

Fixed

Problem where QuickSearch was cancelled by clicking on a group, then next time QuickSearch was used it found only items that were in the selected folder.

Changes in 2.2.0

New

Can now specify idle timeout after what the program will be automatically locked or closed.
Option to lock the program when screensaver activates (default).
Major change is that file is now saved automatically when data is changed. There is no separate Save command any more, as well as no prompts to save your data when you exit or lock the program.
Can now import/merge Password Agent files (*.pwa)
Undo feature (1 level)
Option "Copy Password to clipboard on when Open Link is invoked" added.
"Close to tray" option that when set, will minimize application to system tray instead of exiting the program when main window's X button is clicked.
Custom sensitive columns. Can now select which cols will display # instead of actual data when "Hide sensitive information" option is active. To change column state right-click on it's header and select/unselect "Sensitive data".
Now groups tree will scroll itself automatically during drag/drop operations.
Several dialog boxes offer now "Don't show this again" checkbox.
Now optionally prompts when you are trying to enter an entry with the same name as an existing one.

Changed

Now the program keeps multiple old files (.old1, old2, old3...). The newest old file is called .OLD1 and any previous file has increased number like .OLD2, .OLD3 etc. You can specify how many old files you want to keep, from 1 to 6 (default is 3). Also, the "*old?" file mask is added to file open common dialog's "Files of type" combo box. The original .OLD file (without a number) used by previous versions is not used any more, better delete it immediately so you will not think later that this is up to date backup file.
Find tool will now search also subgroups if "selected group" was specified (except for Root group). Also it will jump to the group where match was found.
Some commands from Tools menu moved to File menu (where they logically belong).
If "Copy File After Save" option will now require destination folder name, not file name. That allows you to copy several different files when you work with multiple files.

Fixed

Tray menu sometimes remained on screen when nothing was selected from menu and another application was activated. Also, tray menu did not always show up with first click on Win98.
Problem with Find command when "All groups" was selected in search options and configuration option was set not to display all items in the Root group.

Changes in 2.1.3

Improved

When Windows XP theme is changed, Password Agent user interface will now adjust its interface to reflect new changes without requiring you to restart Password Agent.

Fixed

"Password expire warning days" option was not saved between sessions.
Some cosmetic issues with status bar drawing under XP when themes are enabled.

Changes in 2.1.2

Improved

Open Link command now allows you to specify an .EXE file with command line in Link field. For example if you use Netscape Navigator as your default web browser but want to run certain link using Internet Explorer, you can write "iexplore.exe http://www.yourwebsite.com" in the Link field. See readme for more information.

Changed

Tray menu is now only displayed if there are no modal windows or message dialogs open in Password Agent, otherwise Password Agent is activated.

Fixed

Problem where the program was not saving options/prompting save modified data on exit when it was closed using File | Exit command or Exit command from the tray menu. This bug was introduced in ver 2.1.0.
Occassional problem on Win9x where all Password Agent dialog windows were placed behind main form when "Keep window on top" setting was used.

Changes in 2.1.1

New

Lock command now available in the tray menu as well.

Change

Coolbar removed (useless eye-candy;)

Fixed

Some problems with Autofill
Occassional problem where the program displayed "File not found" error when second instance of the program was launched.
Minor changes to main menu bar appearence, now draws right on all OSes.

Changes in 2.1.0

New

Option to make backup copy of a file to specified location (on another drive or network share etc).
Option "Show entries from all groups in root" allows you to display or not to display entries from all groups when in root group. Now "All entries" node is named "Root".
Common User IDs tab in Options allows you to set up your most used User IDs so you can choose one from combo box when creating a new account entry. User ID field in Properties window changed from text box to drop-down box. Also added option to automatically fill User ID with your specified default one when creating new account entries.
Now can include "O" in password generator template to include other symbols in passwords.
In Unlock window password hint is now also displayed in a message box when the "?" is clicked with the mouse.

Fixed

On Windows XP, if entry Properties was invoked by pressing Enter key, wrong entry was updated.
If Notes fields had CRLF, boxes were displayed in main listing.
In Properties window, Variables button displayed "Test link" hint.
Occassional problem with Autofill when Keep on Top feature was active.
In HTML export the program replaced ' with '
File | Exit command works now :)

Changes in 2.0.3

New

Now includes online help in addition to the User's manual in PDF format, most used dialogs have Help button and you can invoke online help also by pressing F1 key.
Added shortcut keys to Copy Password and Autofill Password commands.

Fixed

A security hole when the program was running but on locked state.
If "Minimize after Autofill" option is set, the program will be now minimzed also when autofill is invoked using global shortcut key.
Toolbar buttons now draw "pressed" state better when clicked with the mouse.

Changes in 2.0.2

Fixed

Somehow the Tools menu was missing in previous build. I should take a rest :) I apologize for the recent issues.

Changes in 2.0.1

General

Back to the roots! Customizable 3rd party toolbar/menu system introduced in ver 2.0.0 now replaced with the original one. It made the program incompatible with Windows 95 and had few performance issues (delayed menu display and delay when closing application on Windows XP). This new release will run on Windows 95 as well and does not have the XP performance issues. But for the price of missing customization feature.
Password Agent bears now official "Designed for Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows ME, Windows 98, Windows NT" logo, licensed from Microsoft. Visit http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/logo/ to see what that means.

New

Entry -> Copy Note command.
Readme command in the Help menu allows quick access to the readme.txt file.

Fixes

A nasty bug where program told you that the file is in use by another person if you had entered invalid master password previously.
Enhanced Windows XP themes support.

Changes in 2.0.0

New

New file format. Files saved by this new version are approximately 4 times smaller then older ones, but sill offer unlimited text length in all fields! Files saved by the new version are not readable by old version 1 of Password Agent, but the new version can read your old files.
Uses newer U.S. goverment approved Rijndael encryption (256-bit key) instead of Blowfish.
Now two different entry types: Account and Note.
Group column. Now group & path info is visible in entry listing, can also sort by group (very useful in All Entries mode).
Group where an entry belongs to can be changed in Properties window.
Fully customizable toolbar, optional Office XP style. You can also make frequently used buttons wider by showing caption on button.
Supports Windows XP visual styles.
QuickSearch feature to quickly display only entries whose title contains specified text (filter as you type).
Uses system default fonts in windows (Tahoma in new systems), optionally can use old MS Sans Serif as in version 1.
Export to HTML (grouped or columnar), XML, CSV. Can select group(s) and fields to export, sort order.
Global shortcut key to autofill currently selected text box in any application. Defaults to Ctrl+Shift+A. This makes using autofill much easier!
Can configure action what happens on doubleclick: autofill, properties or copy password.
Now Sort By menu lists also columns that are not visible, so you don't need to make them visible to sort by these columns.
Can change group folder image colors to make some groups stand out and each entry will display associated image as well.new: In main listing hint window shows full text of truncated fields if mouse is moved over truncated text.
When deleting a group that contains entries you can now select a new group where entries will be moved to if you don't want to delete them.
If invalid master password then prompts 3 times for a password.
Only one instance of the application can be launched at the same time. If one instance is running and one double-clicks a Password Agent file in Windows Explorer, then the file will be loaded into theexisting instance.
Can specify hint text for master password.
Added Expires field. Can set entry expire date and then expired and soon to be expired entries will be (optionally) painted with different, custom colors.
Option "Hide sensitive data on startup". Now does not use last used setting, but can be configured to start up sensitive data hidden or not.
In Configuration window can load default settings for all pages separately.
Can optionally autofill only account or password separately.
Option "Minimize after Autofill"
Columns can be rearranged by dragging header sections with the mouse.
File > Properties displays standard file properties window.
Entry > Duplicate command allows to make duplicate copy of selected entry.
Saves and keeps old password automatically if new one is assigned. Just in case you need to access the old password.
Groups are now ordered in ascending order, automatically. Can't order manually any more.
Option to save window position and size on exit or not.
Properties and Import windows resizable.
Printable manual in PDF format, no help file.
Now only one process can open a file for saving, so if one user has the file open, another user over network can only read the same file, but not save over it.
Accepts dropped files from Windows Explorer and shell.
Option to generate password automatically when creating a new entry.

Fixed

If password or account contained +, ^, %, ~, ) or ( symbols, AutoFill function did not work properly (used as modifiers). Modifier support removed, now only basic key variables {TAB} and {ENTER} are supported.
Printing long line does not truncate output any more and continues on next line
More minor bug-fixes...

Changed

To make all fields better to understand, Account field is named to UserID. $ACCOUNT variable changed to $USERID accordignly. When an old file that contains $ACCOUNT variables is opened, $ACCOUNT variables will be automatically replaced with $USERID variables.
If saved over, old file name extension is now OLD instead of BAK.
If entry is deleted, next entry is selected in the list, not previous.