Advanced Encryption Options

The options in the table below are set in the Advanced Encryption Options dialog that opens from the Advanced button on the Encryption page of Security options.

Option

Description

Smartcard compatibility

This option enables smart cards to decrypt files encrypted for a recipient list.

If this option is set, versions of PKZIP prior to 6.1 cannot decrypt files encrypted for a recipient list. To enable users of these earlier versions of PKZIP to decrypt such files, turn off the Smartcard compatibility option. Note, though, that files encrypted with this option off cannot be decrypted by smartcards.

The option affects only recipient-list encryption. All versions of PKZIP can decrypt passphrase-encrypted files regardless of how this option is set.

Windows 2000 compatibility

This option enables recipients using smartcards or running on Windows NT or Windows 2000 to extract files encrypted with AES for a recipient list.

By default when encrypting data with AES, PK Protect uses 3DES for key protection. This enables recipients using smartcards or running on Windows NT or Windows 2000 to decrypt the files.

Turn off Windows 2000 compatibility if you want to avoid any use of the 3DES encryption algorithm when doing AES encryption. Turning off the option causes PK Protect to use only AES. Understand that recipients using smartcards or running on Windows NT or Windows 2000 will likely be unable to extract files encrypted with AES for a recipient list.