changes.txt

                            Password Tech
                            =============
                Copyright (c) 2002-2024 by Christian Thöing


Version 3.5.5

NEW FEATURES:

- Advanced Password Options: New option "Remove leading and trailing whitespace
  characters" to remove space and tab characters at the beginning and end of
  passwords
- Configuration | General: New option "Application icon" to change PwTech's
  icon displayed on the task bar, system tray, etc. during runtime
- Configuration | Language: New "Install" and "Remove" buttons to add or
  remove language files to/from the current PwTech installation
  
CHANGES & IMPROVEMENTS:

- Language files can also be copied to the "AppData" folder (usually
  "C:\Users\{user}\AppData\Roaming\Password Tech"), which makes it easier
  to install new languages if PwTech has been installed to the "Program Files"
  folder (which usually requires admin privileges for write access)

FIXES:

- PO language files with empty fields in header not loaded properly

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Version 3.5.4 (2024-02-14)

NEW FEATURES:

- "Include characters" option: New placeholder "<<...>>:N[+]" allows specifying
  custom character set (enclosed within <<...>>) and assigning a frequency
  value N to it (e.g., "<<abcd0123>>:1+" ensures that generated passwords
  contain at least one character from the set "abcd0123")
- Feature "Character Set Builder": New window for composing custom character
  set strings, which can be copied to the "Character set" box in the main window
  (press "Build" button below the "Character set" box)

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Version 3.5.3 (2023-12-03)

NEW FEATURES:

- Advanced Password Options: New option "Include at least one character from
  each subset"
- Advanced Password Options: Min./max. length of words in word lists; upper
  limit increased to 100 (previously 30)
- Advanced Password Options: Redefine separators in passphrases, i.e.,
  separator between words and between words and characters (when combining
  words with characters from password)
- PassCube: New filter option "Entries with weak passwords" (View | Filter)
- PassCube: Applied filter (via View | Filter) displayed in toolbar; can be
  removed by pressing "(x)" button next to "Filtered" label

CHANGES & IMPROVEMENTS:

- Entropy values of passwords displayed with one decimal (e.g., "92.3")
- Format password: More verbose information about invalid specifiers

FIXES:

- Encryption/decryption of text from clipboard not functional

----------

Version 3.5.2 (2023-10-01)

NEW FEATURES:

- Generate multiple passwords: "Generate" button redesigned; arrow button opens
  context menu that allows generating passwords to the clipboard (new) as well
  as generating passwords to a file

CHANGES & IMPROVEMENTS:

- Appropriate reaction to Windows "end session" event (e.g., system shutdown):
  All tasks are canceled, configuration settings are saved, database is closed
  gracefully if possible; otherwise, shutdown is blocked with a corresponding
  message (e.g., if a database entry is being edited and the changes haven't
  been confirmed yet)
- "Advanced Password Option" button in main window displays number of enabled
  (boolean) options and extended tooltip information
- Clear clipboard automatically: Clipboard is only cleared if the SHA-256 hash
  of its contents match the hash of the data that was copied originally
- External Windows dialogs (e.g., file open/save dialogs) have the same style
  as the selected user interface style (Configuration | General)
- PassCube: Database settings: Changing "Number of key derivation rounds" can
  be canceled in case the parameter has accidentally been set too large
  
FIXES:

- "Clear password box automatically" settings not saved to configuration file
- PassCube: Database not locked when minimizing window
- PassCube: Wrong position of "Enter password" dialog when restoring window
  and unlocking database
- PassCube: "Save automatically" settings not saved to configuration file

----------

Version 3.5.1 (2023-08-01)

NEW FEATURES:

- New option "Load the following profile on startup" in Configuration | General

CHANGES & IMPROVEMENTS:

- Maximum number of passwords that can be generated at once extended to
  1 trillion (1,000,000,000,000) (note that larger amounts >~10**8 can only be
  stored in files since the number of Unicode characters displayed in the
  password list window is limited to 500 million/2 billion in the 32/64-bit
  version)
- Suffixes "K", "M", "G"/"B" can be specified in the "Multiple passwords" box
  to generate multiples of thousands, millions, and billions, respectively
- Passwords are generated asynchronously in a separate thread, so that progress
  window stays responsive
- Include characters / character sets with different frequencies: Now compatible
  with password option "Each character must occur only once"
- Password manager: When changing number of KDF rounds via File | Database
  Settings, the process can be canceled after 1 sec (in case the number of
  rounds has accidentally been set too high)

FIXES:

- Launching PwTech on system startup caused an error (configuration file and/or
  randseed.dat file not found)
- Fixed potential buffer overflows

----------

Version 3.5.0 (2023-04-10)

NEW FEATURES:

- New high-resolution icons
- Style of user interface can be customized, list of styles available in
  Configuration | General, including dark styles
- Password generator, Include characters: Specify (minimum or fixed) number of
  characters for placeholders by using the syntax <placeholder>:N[+], e.g.
  <symbols>:2+ (meaning "Include at least two special symbols") 
- Advanced password options: New option "Assign entropy value to each entry in
  password list"
- PassCube: New field "Password changed" (date & time of last password change)
- PassCube: New field "Password history" (history of up to 255 previous
  passwords and associated date & time values)
- PassCube: New option "For new entries, save the following number of previous
  passwords" in Database Settings
  
CHANGES & IMPROVEMENTS:

- Random pool: Cryptographic hash function HMAC-SHA-256 replaced with BLAKE2s
  for enhanced security and speed
  
FIXES:

- Fixed potential buffer overflows
- Cannot generate passphrases if word list size is exactly 2**N with 17<=N<=20
- PassCube: Various issues selecting database entries

----------

Version 3.4.5 (2023-01-22)

NEW FEATURES:

- PassCube password manager: Added option to compress database file using the
  "Deflate" algorithm; available in File | Database Settings | Compression
- PassCube: When editing a database entry, password needs to be confirmed in a
  separate dialog if it has been changed manually and if it is hidden in the box
- PassCube: "Quality bar" below the password box in the edit panel illustrates
  the estimated quality/security of an entry's password
- PassCube: Added button next to URL box for opening the specified URL
- Advanced password strength estimation ("zxcvbn" algorithm) can be enabled in
  Configuration | Security; it is applied for passwords entered by the user into
  the password box in the main window, as well as for passwords of database
  entries in PassCube

CHANGES & IMPROVEMENTS:

- Reworked password quality bar such that the color gradient ranges from 0 bits
  (red/orange) to 64 bits (midpoint, yellow) to 128+ bits (green); the quality
  rating is stricter now since the green color starts to become visible at
  ~75 bits instead of ~55 bits
- Translations: Changed custom LNG format to PO (GNU gettext) format, which is
  widely supported by many applications and web services, allowing translators
  to use dedicated editors such as "Poedit"
  NOTE FOR TRANSLATORS: Existing translations in the LNG format (.lng file) can
  be converted into the new PO format (.po file) by loading the translation in
  PwTech, selecting the corresponding language in the drop-down box (Options |
  Configuration | Language), and pressing the button "Convert to new PO file
  format"
- Format password: Made format specifier <<...>> compatible with options
  "asterisk (*)" and "random number from range", so that format sequences such
  as *1-26<<<az>>> ("Randomly permute letters a..z and insert a random number
  between 1 and 26 of permuted characters into the password") are functional

----------

Version 3.4.4 (2022-10-03)

NEW FEATURES:

- PassCube password manager: Databases can be protected by key files in addition
  to or in place of a regular password; password entry dialog allows selection
  of key files and creation of new 256-bit key files
- PassCube: Recovery password (and/or key file) can be configured to enable
  recovery of the database in case the regular master password has been lost;
  databases can then be opened using either password; alternatively, the
  recovery password may function as an "administrator key" to allow individuals
  with elevated rights to access all databases in an organization (provided that
  all databases have been set up with the same recovery password)  
- PassCube: Remember last selected entry and tag(s) when locking database

CHANGES & IMPROVEMENTS:

- PassCube: Changed HMAC algorithm (to protect data integrity and authenticity)
  from SHA-256 to SHA-512 in new version of database format (1.3)
- PassCube: Search options "Fuzzy" and "Case sensitive" moved to context menu,
  which can be accessed by right-clicking on the search button in the toolbar
- PassCube: "Notes" column in list view: Ignore line breaks, length limited to
  200 characters
- Added digital signatures to all executable files
  
FIXES:

- Various minor bug fixes

----------

Version 3.4.3 (2022-06-19)

NEW FEATURES:

- Password manager: Filter entries that will expire soon ("soon" can be
  specified in the configuration); these entries are marked by a warning
  triangle symbol in the list view
- Password manager: Open database as read-only via File | Open As Read-only
- Configuration | Database: New parameters "Warn if database contains entries
  that will expire soon" and "Number of days" to specify the term "soon"
- Password option "Capitalize first letter of each word"

CHANGES & IMPROVEMENTS:

- Configuration | Database: Parameters "Clear clipboard on minimize" and "Clear
  clipboard on exit" replaced with single parameter "Clear clipboard when
  closing/locking database" ("Database" sheet)
- List of advanced password options (checkboxes) rearranged
  
FIXES:

- "Include at least one..." options not effective for phonetic passwords in some
  cases
- Lua stack overflow when generating large amounts of scripted passwords

----------

Version 3.4.2 (2022-02-27)

NEW FEATURES:

- Tray menu: In case that some windows of the applications are not properly
  restored by the operating system when switching between multiple monitors,
  all windows can be restored to the current primary monitor through the
  "Reset All Window Positions" functionality (available in the tray menu)
- Password manager: File/database properties dialog accessible via "File |
  Properties..."
- Autotype sequence: Command "{wait:N}" (time N in milliseconds between 10 and
  10000) allows inserting custom delays into a sequence
- Added random pool cipher "ChaCha8" as a reduced-round variant of the default
  ChaCha20 stream cipher for performance-critical applications
- Benchmark test for random pool ciphers

CHANGES & IMPROVEMENTS:

- Changed DPI awareness to "Per Monitor v2"
  
----------

Version 3.4.1 (2021-10-30)

NEW FEATURES:

- Command line switch "opendb": Opens password database on startup
- Command line switch "silent": Launches application in the background (i.e.,
  without showing main window)
- Configuration: Option "Launch application on system startup"
- Password manager: Added "New Entry" button to toolbar
- Password manager: Autocomplete functionality for "User name" field (suggests
  user names that already exist in the database)

CHANGES & IMPROVEMENTS:

- Use hardware acceleration for AES if supported by processor
- Display percentage of maximum entropy (256 bits) in status bar (e.g.,
  "128 (50%)")
- Password manager: Improved handling of write-protected files
- Password manager: Additional icon in toolbar for adding new entry

FIXES:

- Autotype: Added delay of 250ms before sending first character to avoid
  incomplete typing
- Password manager: Fixed issues concerning "Expires" field
- Password manager: Prevent other processes from writing to database file
  while it is opened in PassCube

----------

Version 3.4.0 (2021-07-04)

NEW FEATURES:

- Password manager: New field "Expires" (including checkbox and calendar for
  date selection) allows setting an expiry date for the password of a database
  entry; expired entries are marked with a symbol on the left side of the first
  column of the list view
- Password manager: Option "By default, new entries expire after the following
  number of days" allows setting a default password expiry date for new entries
- Configuration: Option "Warn if database contains expired entries" displays
  a message box that allows filtering expired entries in the list view

CHANGES & IMPROVEMENTS:

- Lua scripting language: Update to version 5.4.3
- Password database format: Version 1.2

FIXES:

- Console output did not support Unicode

----------

Version 3.3.0 (2020-12-30)

NEW FEATURES:

- Password manager: Added global database settings "Generate passwords for new
  entries using format sequence", "Encryption algorithm" (AES or ChaCha20), and
  "Number of key derivation rounds"
- Password manager: Key-value list can be edited in a dedicated window, field
  in edit panel is read-only
- Password manager: Added configuration parameter "Save automatically" (with
  options "After adding/modifying an entry" and "After every change")

CHANGES & IMPROVEMENTS:

- Password manager: Changed scoring system for "fuzzy" search
- Password manager: Automatically select first search entry
- Password manager: Search for keyword via hot key: Search is not limited to a
  single entry anymore (in case there are multiple entries having the same
  keyword assigned)
- Password manager: Changed backup feature to support timestamps and consecutive
  numbering
- Password entry window: "Remember password" feature only available for text
  encryption and deterministic random generator (i.e., via Tools | Deterministic
  Random Generator | Set up)
- Reduced frequency of "Please donate" messages in "Community" edition
- Lua scripting language: Update to version 5.4.2

FIXES:

- Password manager: Copy/paste via Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V within database fields
  did not work
- Password manager: "Run" command did not work with certain commands, including
  more complex commands with arguments
- Text encryption: Decrypted text encoded as UTF-8 instead of UTF-16

----------

Version 3.2.0 (2020-08-05)

NEW FEATURES:

- Native 64-bit version available
- Password manager: New "Tags" field in password databases allows assigning
  multiple tags to entries, which can be filtered via the tag list control on
  top of the list of database entries
- Option "Ask before exiting application" asks for confirmation via a message
  box before exiting
- Option "Clear password box automatically" automatically clears the password
  box in the main window after a certain time
  
CHANGES & IMPROVEMENTS:

- Create random data files: Allow file sizes up to 10 terabytes
  
FIXES:

- Several placeholders for character sets ("Include characters" option) not
  functional
- File extension filters in open/save dialogs not available in English version
- Password manager: Dropping dragged entry on "<New Entry>" item caused fatal
  error
- Missing translations in German.lng

----------

Version 3.1.0 (2020-06-14)

NEW FEATURES:

- Multilingual support (note: Translation Utility has also been relaunched)
- Allow comments preceding the file name in file name lists ("Include words"
  and "Run script"), e.g. "[My word list]C:\Users\user\Documents\mylist.txt"
- Password manager: "Fuzzy" (approximate) search ("zZ" button in toolbar)
- Password manager: Rearrange entries ("Edit" menu and context menu of list)
- Password manager: Allow changing password font ("View" menu)

CHANGES & IMPROVEMENTS:

- "Specify length" option for passphrases: Length specification now refers
  to the net length of the passphrase (i.e., only counting characters from
  words and not from the previous "Include characters" option); an asterisk (*)
  can be specified somewhere in the sequence to count all characters (e.g.,
  "10-20*", "*>15")
- Password manager: When creating or opening a database, wait until file name
  has been selected and/or password has been entered before closing the
  currently opened database
- Password manager: Allow access to "File" menu when editing an entry
- Password manager: "View | Sort Order" options moved to "View | Sort By" menu
  
FIXES:

- Wait for running threads to finish upon exit
- Fixed issues related to "Always on Top" feature
- Password manager: Sort options not loaded from configuration on startup
- Password manager: Key-value string not copied when duplicating entry

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Version 3.0.0 (2020-05-05)

- Relaunched "PWGen for Windows" as "Password Tech" (PwTech) with lots of
  new features, including password safe/manager and password generation with
  Lua scripts

NOTE: Multilingual support is currently not available. It will be added in a
future release.

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Please refer to older versions of the predecessor "PWGen for Windows" for the
changes in PWGen 1.x and 2.x!