Shoutbox

Hi guys,

Recently, for some reason, when I try to open my encrypted log files (using the correct password), an error box informs me "The decrypted file couldn't be opened!" I have never had this problem before. I have tried reinstalling MSG Plus, and changing the password, and nothing helps. It is extremely important that I can get access to these files, especially as they include some logs from a friend of mine who is no longer with us.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Silly question, but is your caps lock on?
are you SURE it's the right password?
otherwise, the logs are not recoverable without the correct password

Yes, I'm absolutely certain that the password is correct and Caps Lock is off, etc. To test, I entered in several wrong passwords (including the correct one with incorrect capitalisation) and it gave me an Incorrect Password error.

Please - there really must be *something* that can be done. It seems this isn't a situation where it can't decrypt the file - it just can't open the decrypted version. There really must be some way of capturing that decrypted output, surely? I can understand them being unrecoverable if the password is incorrect, but that is not the case here. If it truly is impossible, then surely a warning to that effect would be a good idea - if I had known that my logs may become unrecoverable, I would have thought twice about doing it.

This error message only comes up when the default editor for txt files can't be started. This also will happen if you changed the editor with a registry key. In both cases, if you don't have time to search for the problem, I suggest you open the log from another computer to get access to your file.

quote:

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Originally posted by Patchou
This error message only comes up when the default editor for txt files can't be started.

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Why not hardcode a 'notepad' backup?

Thanks for your responses guys (Patchou - I am honoured!) I have had a good poke in the Registry and haven't yet found any key which might hold details for default text editor. Next step is to try and open them on another system and see what I can find out.

I'll be sure to post my findings here to help others. Wish me luck!

You don't need to delve into the Registry
Open Explorer, go to Tools -> Folder Options.
On the Types tab, find TXT and set a default program for it
Apply, OK, and you're done.

I have also the same problem as above described. It surfaced recently. I'm not too sure what caused it. I don't think it's a problem with Notepad. I tried what Raceprouk said but it did not help.

And I'm definitely sure it's the right password.

I have made some progress on this matter. I hope this can help others to go further than I have managed so far.

I was flicking through my ZoneAlarm Pro logs and I noticed three alerts for 'OSFirewall'. They were all for Messenger Plus, where ZoneAlarm had blocked it opening notepad as another process.

I disabled OSFirewall and restarted the system. The decrypted file error is now gone. BUT...when opening the file, I now get the error from Notepad (not MSGPlus):

"The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect."

It opens a blank notepad window to go with this. My limited research on this subject has turned up a bunch of sutff about hidden streams, but nothing I can make progress with. I'll keep trying and will report with any developments.

quote:

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Originally posted by Informator
My limited research on this subject has turned up a bunch of sutff about hidden streams, but nothing I can make progress with.

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Nothing hidden about how Plus! opens an encrypted log though:

When you double click on a encrypted log in Windows Explorer, Messenger Plus! asks you for the password.

It then decrypts the data in the log and saves the decrypted data as a new log in your temporary windows directory.

It then starts Notepad (or whatever texteditor you've set to open it with) with that temporary saved decrypted textfile.

After you've done with and you closed notepad, the tempoary file is deleted.

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The error you got from notepad indicates that there is something wrong with the filename of that temporary log. Which seems very strange as the filename of that log is always in the form "blah@blah.com {decrypted}.txt". In other words, no characters are used which could be invalid for a filename.

Just to try it out, try to totally disable, exit and close the whole ZoneAlarm thing and/or any other "security" thingie you might have. Thus including viruschecks, on the fly scanning, firewall, etc. etc. and try again.