pineapplefriedrice, If/when you get 404, follow the instructions BUT wait about 5 minutes until you re-click. I suspect you've run into a crowd situation where too many people are trying to download all at once.

Jim,

Good question; I tested it by locking and hiding pages, saving, exiting, then opening with a PDF reader to confirm that locked page were not accessible (has a lock symbol on the page), and that "hidden" pages do not show up at all. You cannot unlock the file with a PDF reader. Next, I reopened with PDF Page lock Pro, and the first thing I am prompted with is the request for a password. I entered the password and then have the same list of pages, and the locked ones are shown locked, and the hidden ones shown hidden. At this point the document is the same as it was last saved by PDF Page Lock Pro. I can lock more pages, hide more pages, or unlock any that I choose. If I have any pages remaining locked or hidden, a Save prompts to save the protected file with a password. at this point, i could change the password from what I used before.

At the bottom where the choice to Lock or Hide are also the choices to Unlock, including Unlock All. After the Unlock all, now when I chose to Save, there is no prompt for a password, just the message that the file is unlocked. Attempting to open with a PDF reader shows that it is as if it never had been locked before, so it does stay unlocked from that point on.

Hope that helped.

Gary, Eeek so if I have some information in a document that is to some degree classified as secret and only authorised people with the passphrase can open the locked or hidden pages but once they do they can save the unlocked document in its entirety so I have to trust they won't save an unprotected copy of the PDF that anyone can read if they obtain a copy of that file or are leaked it by the recipient? If I cannot prevent the recipient from saving a copy of the in any way unlocked file there is no proper security and I lose control if I let anyone else ever have access to the lock password! So what's the point of this software really?

TK, you can't hold that argument against any service. In the digital world you can never ever prevent people from copying stuff in case they have access to it.

Note: Personally I have no use for this product either though. And also see no use for it, just like you, but not because of the argument that you can't prevent others from copying when they have the password, but because: 1) if you have something to hide, don't put it in in the first place (use a seperate doc in that case). 2) you still need a third party app (their app) to unlock the content.

Oscar, not strictly true, one can prevent what this software currently facilitates... it may be not possible stop photographing the screen but that was not the criticisim... I have said many times never put on computerised systems anything you cannot live with it becoming public. But that is not what this is marketed at.
The sort of thing I would do is not create a password unlockable demo of an ebook but an actual demo ebook with no extra content hidden in it to be revealed but upon purchase I'd provide a uniquely digitally signed ebook with the obscured signature tied to the customer records and if the ebook is illegally distributed I will be able to tell which customer illegally distributed and if necesasry I could prosicute them under copyright laws.
You don't have to prevent copying but I would want to be able to prove who broke the law by illegally distributing it to start with.

Man, For this, there is a built-in PDF protection feature

Ootje, password = gotd

Woody, once they have bought the locked PDF ebook and unlocked it with the free version of this program can they save the unlocked PDF so anyone can read it outside the program with a normal PDF viewer?
If they can what is to prevent them from then distributing the unlocked PDF copy via a torrent or other file sharing program?

TK, your question is a very good question and I didn't consider this before. I will add the password function which only allow them to read only.

Woody, will this new version be incompatible with current and previous free versions? If it continues to use same embeding of encrypted content and hiding mechanisims what will there be to stop a recipient using the older less secure version from opening and unlocking and saving the unlocked plain text and redistributing it without permission?
If it is a new incompatible scheme will the more secure evolution of the program be offered as a free security fix to all previous customers and giveaway participants?
Bear in mind there is not much you can do to prevent the end user taking screenshots of the unlocked content and OCRing it or just producing rasterised unlocked PDF.. so if you are reasonable with your security claims you will save yourself an awfull lot of hard work chasing the impossible.

Tk,

You can't hold that argument against any service or program.
In the digital world you can never ever prevent people from copying stuff in case they have access to it.

Woody,

Kudoo's for looking into it, but it is complete useless. Anything the reader sees once unlocked can easily be copied, even if you set it to read-only. The only thing this will do is to make a bit more difficult for the normal user. But an experienced user will have no trouble copying info out of any PDF-file, even if it was read-only.

Mothman, .... where this comes in handy, is when you want to send something that is private through email. You can call, text, or send another email with the password. It works well...

DavidJoseph,

Ok...kind of get it...but the people you're sending all your secrets to is gonna have to have it installed on their machine...so, it still seems like pointless software...

Mothman.... not installed, because any PDF reader can open, but rather they need a password to open. Many things are confidential, such as contracts, drafts, etc. Even on someone else's computer, trying to open will require the password you initially set. So, if you have a girlfriend you don't want your wife reading the emails, this is for you. :)

DavidJoseph, you can do that with any decent PDF creation software and encrypt the entire PDF file and have a standard PDF reader the other end to prompt for the passphrase sent via some other medium but not require a specialised 3rd party program just to access the PDF and give the recipient the opertunity to save an insecure copy of your private PDF file too, while that would not be possible using adobe PDF viewer... the passphrase would allow reading and the document could have various restrictions placed like no copy and no edit and no print... of course they may be able to screen shot the unencrypted content so nothing that displays content on screen can be considered secure.

Mothman,

I will try to write while still laughing at your last comment. Yep, they know everything.

In one of the comments by Woody (the developer), mentioned "eBook." I think that this program is intended just for such a purpose. The main reason being is that the standard way of adding password protection to PDF files is starting to have cracking competition. We have seen several utilities that can remove the password PROVIDED that we already know what the password is, but there are other attempts at doing brute force cracking. For eBook redistributors on the black market, those tools may appeal to them.

I council some publishers of eBooks and the effectiveness of the password is becoming a concern. This tool could help a bit, but I also agree with you that the hassle of having to install the free edition just to remove the password on the receiving end will be a hindrance.

Sure the free edition can also protect or hide a few pages, but the purchaser of an eBook will mainly want to have full access to the book, and with no desire to lock or hide pages on other files or even on the eBook they purchased.

What this developer needs to create is a standalone (portable/no install needed) "UNLOCK ALL" tool that can be sent separately to the recipient of an eBook. Otherwise, I think of this as only a partial solution, so I agree with you!

Gary, Thanks a lot for your suggestion.

Woody,

Well, keep me in mind when you do this as it would be easier for me to suggest your solution. I was not sure if your Read-Only option is a choice to eliminate total unlocking or not. If it is an additional feature, then adding the Read-Only feature could be incorporated into the same no install unlock tool.

Regardless of what you do, if the end user can get access to the free edition to do a total unlock, of course they could then distribute the PDF eBook anyway, but I do not think that is a problem that can be easily solved. Most eBook purchasers are not going to re-distribute, ... at least not to a large group. How people use your tool will be their choice. Whether they consider using your tool at all will be dependent on how easy it is to use. A quick simple no-install unlock tool would help a lot compared to having to install a program just to unlock an eBook.

Thanks, and I look forward to your improvements.

givmeabrake, and your's is in some way a nice post? Is it do as I say and not as I do like an abusive parent or the current POTUS?

Erik Istrup, I don't believe that is true, but regardless, this is the pro version. The free version has watermarks to advertise the software. What the recipient does need is the password you create. Adobe, any of the free office programs and many other PDF readers is all that is required for the recipient. Heck, I believe you can open in a navigator such as FireFox.

DavidJoseph, please read #5. In Acrobat Reader you are not asked for a password, the locked pages are shown with just a lock icon. That is why the program is needed.

Stu, can you read?

The software is required to be downloaded, installed and registered exceptionally during the giveaway period! Please mind that you won't be able to use the contents of the downloaded archive after the end of the giveaway period unless stated otherwise.

Please note that the software you download and install during the Giveaway period comes with the following important limitations:

No free technical support;
No free upgrades to future versions;
Strictly personal usage.
THIS SOFTWARE PRODUCT IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. WITHOUT LIMITATION, TO THE FULLEST EXTENT ALLOWABLE BY LAW, END USER ASSUMES THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE DOWNLOADED SOFTWARE PRODUCT.

Blackhat: you may very well have much better eyesight than Stu does. Or a psychic ability to be envied. Or the GOTD website country version you are using is different to his -- and mine. That's the most likely explanation.

Whatever: the text you have quoted is nowhere to be found on this page today when viewed (even without ad blocking) on either Firefox or IE browsers by anyone in the UK.

GOTD regulars will know that giveaway T&Cs feature in the ReadMe text accompanying all downloaded giveaways but if Stu isn't a regular here -- or wants to know more about an aspect of the T&Cs before downloading -- then his question seems perfectly valid.

This isn't the first time that this kind of question has been asked recently and met with a response similar to yours. I'm not saying you are wrong, merely pointing out that what is apparent on the page you are looking at may
not be apparent on the page he's viewing. Worth bearing in mind.

Blackhat,
Yes, I can read! I know I can read because I'm replying to your posting. :-) However, I didn't know WHERE to read. Nowhere on this page does it have what you pasted above. Also, their website IMPLIES that the paid version is for commercial use, not private use. Also, there have been some previous Give Away Of The Day software that at least allowed future reinstalls and updates (for the same major version number) like USB Safely Remove.

Blackhat, I don't think your snide "reply" was called for or necessary. It was a reasonable question, particularly since the info was not stated, or implied, in the company's wonderful description of their product. It also does not tell anyone whether this is rental-ware with a 6-month license, a 1-year license or it's a forever-and-a-day license and whether it will still work as advertised after the license period expires. It also doesn't tell us whether there's a portable version that is included....one should NOT have to go to the developer's web page, or download the offer without some important info included. Perhaps you could use your ESP, or crystal ball, and fill us in?

HellsBells, this is now the standard here.

The limitations of the giveaways used to made clear, now you have to guess or perhaps download the program to find out. The site is not as well managed as it used to be.

Stu,

What Blackhat listed as the conditions is from the very first section of the Terms and Conditions. It is the link directly under the Download of each day's offer.

It would have been far better if Blackhat had explained the source. It could have relieved some tension caused by his introductory line. Hopefully Blackhat will learn from this experience, and for anyone that has not reviewed the Terms and Conditions page, they should do so. I am also confident that most every user here has looked at that page, and know that it is not necessarily the answer to every question.

The Terms and Conditions are the "default" terms from Giveawayoftheday. Regardless of what the Terms and Conditions page state, there have been exceptions by various developers, and as a result, I believe any question is valid, just to get a clarification.

The most important thing in helping each other is the manner in how we conduct ourselves.

Gary,
Thank you for your clear, thoughtful response that was so wonderfully put! Since variations in the terms and conditions sometimes vary by vendor, I like to see either an explicit statement in the vendor's software description saying for example "the standard terms and conditions apply" or possibly anything different than the standard terms and conditions as in the case of USB Safely Remove. Having no mention of it caused me to go to their website where there was ambiguity where they specified that the paid version is for commercial use. Maybe other vendors, if they see these postings, will give more information in their write-ups.

I agree 100% with your comment "The most important thing in helping each other is the manner in how we conduct ourselves.".