Windows Phone Thoughts: Tales from Encrypt: SecureNow 2006 v1.00 Reviewed

Installation and Registration
After reading horror stories about users who encrypted their hard drives and then lost the encryption keys (thus rendering their data forever lost), I synchronized my data using ActiveSync and made a backup of the files on my storage card. I then downloaded SecureNow 2006 from Handango to my laptop and copied the .CAB file to my Windows Mobile device. I used File Exlorer to navigate to the .CAB file and clicked it to install the software. The installation took seconds to complete, and I navigated to the Programs folder to find an icon (rather nondescript) for SecureNow.


Figure 1: SecureNow keeps it simple with a basic icon.

However, when I tried to launch it by tapping on the icon, it immediately showed a screen stating that the version of the .NET Compact Framework required by SecureNow 2006 is higher than the version I had installed on my Windows Mobile 5 device. After going to the Microsoft website and downloading and installing Microsoft Compact Framework 2 (which required a soft reset of my device), I again tapped the icon to launch the application.

After waiting several seconds for the application to launch, I was then asked to activate SecureNow by emailing my name and a number (which simply had a lot of zeroes separated by a dash) to a HOTMAIL email address. I was immediately concerned that any software company would use a free email address for application activation. Rural Network Solutions should invest in a corporate email domain if they want to be viewed as a serious software company. Furthermore, the dialog box stated that a file (SNW.sit) with the activation code would be found in the “My Documents” folder, but I was unable to find such a file anywhere on my laptop.


Figure 2: Email activation request screen.

Despite my misgivings, I emailed the requested information and waited for a response. Fortunately, I received an email from Rural Networks less than 24 hours later. The email had an attachment called “SIT.lic” which the email directed me to copy anywhere on the device. I assume that SecureNow 2006 scans the entire PDA looking for this file in order to find the license (which explains the long initial launch time). I would have preferred that Rural Network Solutions had integrated with Handango to provide a registration key instead of following this email authentication approach.

Trying for the third time to launch the application, I tapped the SecureNow 2006 icon and finally was presented a screen that indicated a successful launch. The disclaimer stated that Rural Networks was not liable for any loss of data so I did another confirmation of my backup and clicked the “Continue” button to enter the application.


Figure 3: Disclaimer protecting Rural Network Solutions from liability in case of data loss when using SecureNow.