These Release Notes give you information about installing secure2sign and contain information about known issues and possible workarounds for those issues.
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secure2sign README DOCUMENT: Version 4.1.0.0
5th
February 2008
Introduction
secure2sign represents the state of the art in digital signing.
It enables you to digitally sign and timestamp Microsoft Office Word documents so that it can be shown that the document:
· Has not been altered since it was signed. (Proof of content.
· Existed in this form at the time it was time stamped. (Proof of existence.)
Unlike other digital signing tools, secure2sign:
· Does not use ActiveX controls, macros or Visual Basic code. The ability to sign without introducing active content:
o Eliminates the possibility of active content being maliciously exploited.
o Prevents the problem of firewalls filtering out documents with active content.
o Avoids conflicts with using documents with active content in secure environments.
o Ensures compatibility with Microsoft Office 2007 default native file formats (.docx) that specifically exclude any active elements (ActiveX, scripts or macros).
· Checks Microsoft Office documents for potentially malicious content before you sign, to ensure that you don't sign content that you are unaware of or that may display differently at a later date.
· Uses patent applied for techniques to prevent spoofing of the windows that display signature details. This prevents malicious programs from altering the display of signatures e.g. displaying an invalid signature as valid.
· Is resistant to the attacks that have been shown to affect other signing programs.
· Supports sectional signing of documents and forms
New Feature in Version 4
Secure2sign version 4.0.0.0 now allows users to sign sections within a Word document or form. This new feature is useful for when different people need to sign different parts of a document or form. In this way the sectional signing feature of secure2sign enables business processes to be fully digitised by linking signing into a document workflow. More information on sectional signing can be found in our document entitled secure2sign_sections.pdf or in the secure2sign version 4 help.
Specification
Supported Operating Systems:
Windows Vista
Windows XP Pro
Windows 2000 (SP4)
Supported Applications:
Microsoft Word 2000, 2002 (XP), 2003, 2007
For support of other applications please contact sales@avocosecure.com
For information on the secure2sign API please contact sales@avocosecure.com
Requirements
Memory: 256 megabytes of RAM
Hard Disk: 1 megabytes of free space
CPU Support: Single CPU Systems
Processor: Pentium compatible - 133 MHz or higher
1. Close Microsoft office Word and Outlook before installing/uninstalling
2. Ensure that if you have received secure2sign in a zip file that you extract the contents of the zip.
3. You must be logged on with administrator privileges to install or remove secure2sign, but no special privileges are required to use it.
4. To install, ensure the license file s2slic.ini is in the same folder as the secure2sign executable and run s2ssetup.exe then follow the online prompts.
Uninstallation
1. Close Microsoft office Word and Outlook before installing/uninstalling
2. Open Add/Remove programs from Control Panel
3. select secure2sign and click Remove.
4. Alternatively, click Start, All Programs, Avoco Secure, secure2sign, Uninstall.
Upgrading
To upgrade secure2sign, close Microsoft Word and Outlook and install the new version.
Before contacting support, please check out the FAQs listed at http://www.avocosecure.com/support
To contact support please email support@avocosecure.com
The secure2sign API provides the functionality of the secure2sign desktop application from a server (for example through integration into SharePoint). For further details on the secure2sign API please contact info@avocosecure.com
Release Features
Version 4.1.0.0 of secure2sign is a minor upgrade from the previous version 4.0.1.0
Release
date: 5th February 2008
1) Support for .mht file format
|
Supported Operating Systems |
Supported Applications |
|
Windows 2000 |
Microsoft Word 2000 |
|
Windows XP |
Microsoft Word XP |
|
Windows Vista |
Microsoft Word 2003 |
|
|
Microsoft Word 2007 |
Minimum System Requirements:
Memory: 256 megabytes of RAM (ideally 512 MB RAM)
Hard Disk: 4 megabytes of free space
CPU Support: Single CPU systems and CPU's supporting HT Technology
Processor: Pentium compatible - 133 MHz or higher
Anti Virus and other Security Software
The following anti-virus and security software has been tested for use with secure2sign:
· Microsoft Antispyware (beta)
· McAfee VirusScan 8i
· Zone Alarm
Known Issues
|
Application |
Problem |
Notes |
|
Rarely a document signed using one version of Word may show up an invalid signature when opened and viewed using another version of Office, e.g. signed using Word 2003 then opened using Word 2000 |
This is due to incompatibility between version of Office and certain objects used within Office, for example footnotes may cause this issue. However, re-opening the document in the originating Word version used to sign the document should see the signature as Valid. |
|
|
Word 2000/XP/2003 |
Visible signatures are showing in the document as either highly skewed or very small |
This is caused by certain printer drivers, e.g. the Epson DX 4800 this issue can be temporarily resolved by change the default printer. This issue is being investigated for a fix. |
|
Word updates |
The secure2sign addin is not visible in the toolbar after installing a new Office version |
If installing a new Office version you must first uninstall secure2sign before installing the new office version. After installing your new Office version you can then re-install secure2sign. |
|
Word 2000/XP/2003 |
Certificates that do not have the term ‘encipherment’ under the Key Usage properties of the certificate cannot be added to the list of exempted persons in the secure2sign Restrictions |
This is associated with a Microsoft update to CAPI |
|
Word 2003 |
Documents that have had signature fields added using secure2sign version 4 onwards will not allow those fields to be signed using previous versions of secure2sign |
To resolve this you can either upgrade the software used to sign in the fields to the current version or sign the document outside of a signature field. |
|
Word 2000 |
Signing a section in a Word 2007 document shows odd characters at the start of each section |
This is because you have an option set in Word 2007 to show hidden characters. This can be disabled using Office Button/Options/Display then uncheck show hidden text |
|
Word set to track changes |
If Word has track changes set and a visible signature is inserted, the track changes function will prompt the user to accept/reject the insertion of the signature image. Once accepted/rejected the signature will show a ‘format change’ against the signature |
Do not sign documents with track changes set Or to check signatures re-open and check the signature in the office version used to sign the document |