Note: My Web pages are best viewed with style sheets enabled.

PGP: Installation, Setup, and Training for Free

Copyright © 2001, 2002, 2005, 2008 by David E. Ross

I am so committed to expanding the use of PGP — both for digital signatures and for encryption — that I am willing to visit you in eastern Ventura County and western San Fernando Valley (California) to install and setup PGP 6.5.8 and give you preliminary training in its use for FREE. Note that, as a computer software professional for over 40 years, I could charge a consultant's fee of $50-$100 per hour for this service.

To qualify for this service, you must meet all of the following criteria:

The installation must be on a home PC not used commercially. That is, when I install PGP for free, it must meet the terms of the PGP freeware license.
You live within 10 miles of Oak Park, California.
You are using a PC with Windows 98 or Windows XP.
Yes, I will attempt to install PGP with other versions of Windows (not Vista) if you agree that my lack of experience with those versions of Windows will not make you angry. There appear to be compatibility problems between PGP and Windows Vista, so I won't even try to install PGP on Windows Vista.
I have no experience with installing software on Macs or Linux hosts or with using PGP on them. Also I have no experience in using a GUI version of PGP with UNIX. Therefore, I decline to install PGP on any of these.
You must commit to spending at least two hours attending the installation and setup. Security considerations mandate that you (not me) perform the task of creating your PGP key. (T) Of course, the whole effort — including training — might not require the full two hours. On the other hand, if the training is truly productive, I will continue it beyond the two hours if you wish.
You must make your public PGP key indeed public by uploading it to a public key server (T). If you properly identify yourself, I will download your key, sign it, and upload it again when I return home.
After I properly identify myself and my PGP DSS/DH key, you must download my key, sign it, and then upload my key to a public key server (T).

For installation, I will download the latest end-user (not beta) version of PGP freeware from the PGP Corporation and install it. Alternatively, I will install PGP 8.0.1, which is the version I use. I will also edit the version line output by PGP so that it is shorter than the length of a line in an encrypted or signed message.

For setup, I will talk you through the task of creating your own PGP keys and archiving a key-revocation file (T).

For training (T), I will review with you the PGP User's Guide that I install with PGP and talk you through the tasks of

examining and signing someone else's public PGP key
encrypting, decrypting, and signing a file
encrypting and signing E-mail
using public key servers.

When I return home, I will send you an encrypted E-mail message so that you can practice decrypting it (T). You will have my phone number so that I can talk you through that process. Thereafter, I will be available via E-mail for additional help; however, questions that could be answered from the installed documentation or Help file will be answered by referring to those resources. And no, I do not know everything about PGP. I, too, submit questions to the relevant newsgroups.

If you are interested, send me E-mail envelope with stamp, indicating mail .

Items marked with (T) are part of your training.

Last updated 25 March 2008