PGP

To use PGP, go get the freeware version from PGP Corporation, or if you don't qualify or want more features, buy the desktop commercial version.
The best combination, IMHO, is using Thunderbird as email client, GnuPG for the crypto and Enigmail to bind the two together. You can use your old PGP keys, if you have those, or create new ones.
What you should do breaks down into three steps:

  1. Get Thunderbird from Mozilla
  2. Get GnuPG and install it
  3. Get Enigmail and install it
Now, the interesting thing is that the above three steps are equally valid for Windows as for Linux or Mac OSX! It may look intimidating, but the truth is that these three products install without any problems and you don't need to answer any weird questions along the way. The only little "trick" you should know is that the Enigmail file is an "extension" for Thunderbird, so you should save it to your desktop (for instance), then open Thunderbird, go to "Tools" -> "Extensions" -> "Install" and select that file. Otherwise, it's all downhill, actually.

Get my public key, which is available as file and looks as follows:

-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: PGPfreeware 6.5.8 for non-commercial use 

mQGiBDlAqSIRBADwcn+dc+LCfxKuGOsfRDQjnBrffFn7Klqf51IYp41a+V7t1Yd9 
XfQupzNFB5VFMJ5T4XCpcDhpb65ZdBx1q/RoWpOTW2MDf8m1NsKSf2BF/fqmBOT8 
FxcHAcjINIeWDgF/y2HdxtMo08c4bf70zDTANfbxHBuBfkqe8CQicJSAJQCg/2k9 
iRZWRDw0JakkjA/2XwEEepcEAIIv0tmmvK/uZhoYA+8+10ygIj9wJOGoGhHtA4nH 
13QSfBvpfbJ5cxekX2UB2IP5Dd2+sa//Xq8XPv4EMCxvfXQtxvW7wGwHtvUyViKM 
+ai3WEMCgI+elQSpq14JLADuKrs3SgU2DhUj/22MTQM9RZGrEGsKAnAZHiNCZy8Z 
pLWmA/0cFB3mbuLxnyiXDv6xOfddHvkZAx8UJrfptY0oD1+8LTMqcRWZoXbfgNCP 
1zKaLtSVVV2XwAgqN3isZaZ/xpSUVcQawbGxewN62wszYsViCOIg3UjqmpWDf7WS 
qPZZhW11P7uWvqWZIpq1inWNaIUof+YkwDT58fTYIpAwEAOJyrQkSi4gTWFydGlu 
IFdlaGxvdSA8bWFydGluQHdlaGxvdS5jb20+iQBOBBARAgAOBQI5QKkiBAsDAgEC 
GQEACgkQMstdVsfVbhFGAgCfUaB7SJY7Typrk3Ox9Zx8z5dDBJIAn3cjY8KrP9Xp 
ZyLUv+qeQELgnod+tCVKLiBNYXJ0aW4gV2VobG91IDxtYXJ0aW5AdHlwZW9uZS5j 
b20+iQBLBBARAgALBQI5Rd4MBAsDAgEACgkQMstdVsfVbhGFYQCfStEUuz8qwWPG 
TNffdc6tkGeSoLQAn1b+JD4eMGILPn00xq1JCtJtsRiMtCtKLiBNYXJ0aW4gV2Vo 
bG91IDxtYXJ0aW4ud2VobG91QHByb2Zkb2Muc2U+iQBLBBARAgALBQI8d1UqBAsD 
AgEACgkQMstdVsfVbhFOxgCcDGWbYT38PFCz1+g9ub+zh5ahZaYAn11BJW6zsl+3 
1mpgn/pq+tc3gl5XuQQNBDlAqSIQEAD5GKB+WgZhekOQldwFbIeG7GHszUUfDtjg 
o3nGydx6C6zkP+NGlLYwSlPXfAIWSIC1FeUpmamfB3TT/+OhxZYgTphluNgN7hBd 
q7YXHFHYUMoiV0MpvpXoVis4eFwL2/hMTdXjqkbM+84X6CqdFGHjhKlP0YOEqHm2 
74+nQ0YIxswdd1ckOErixPDojhNnl06SE2H22+slDhf99pj3yHx5sHIdOHX79sFz 
xIMRJitDYMPj6NYK/aEoJguuqa6zZQ+iAFMBoHzWq6MSHvoPKs4fdIRPyvMX86RA 
6dfSd7ZCLQI2wSbLaF6dfJgJCo1+Le3kXXn11JJPmxiO/CqnS3wy9kJXtwh/CBdy 
orrWqULzBej5UxE5T7bxbrlLOCDaAadWoxTpj0BV89AHxstDqZSt90xkhkn4DIO9 
ZekX1KHTUPj1WV/cdlJPPT2N286Z4VeSWc39uK50T8X8dryDxUcwYc58yWb/Ffm7 
/ZFexwGq01uejaClcjrUGvC/RgBYK+X0iP1YTknbzSC0neSRBzZrM2w4DUUdD3yI 
sxx8Wy2O9vPJI8BD8KVbGI2Ou1WMuF040zT9fBdXQ6MdGGzeMyEstSr/POGxKUAY 
EY18hKcKctaGxAMZyAcpesqVDNmWn6vQClCbAkbTCD1mpF1Bn5x8vYlLIhkmuqui 
XsNV6z3WFwACAg//XZ0KymZfEbC7E7hHyAIdBPbeSbZDmdC8tF+Gqhd1WqCTMgjv 
a3zDXmp/seYKbndr2Sxz+Oxa9iXGCoU9KNY5nlx53Lzr1Wya0mFnayGgmLtm1qhl 
fm+gwoCoQYo5fPUOemaTo/PgeBZCLZdVPhqHga8TSnp3Iu41BTtfkMc1C4M1xOQY 
sOgdeGYpas8libVZFWDifjyxiZ5mfCRQoLFGb5PThkQIf/UnXmUKqu1jF1EkcUbt 
P24aXhVLI7oSGEE72qKthg1mKHdow50Egzi2LHgTO50X4SkKQ+g06Cfjexn4pjon 
8LuDNSEtp4WDqPnqrIrX1pPE2TMfcjTn4eJLYlJqgEVvIO16xT+5qpjwwURpCg/3 
nq6MBUSIiGxgTl3LOIXC9pTotQWErNyYlXuXLYTpUTkBfGv33jHCouMnbga2kWN0 
uoeDOC+qnl5VNqu3vaaTnuN2Ny3T02apNK2p94UD1PAiw2tmLJEmHlNRdjWOkWak 
XNRAXiodFuUzD1tKgF1bpMcn3BIaRDdZVcLq7U/36wabNfG14zwHppcQS/MNyfy+ 
TdfBhgpf9SO+a+C87814zIdvxqbB5idIsY9aigp9ScViuShQTDQvEfldkctuyXzL 
tSfAW5fUXZlfN7LIsaf06iM3nrOfoK1iZbO9fcTzZo2ZtYn7u+dp3JVqfTWJAEYE 
GBECAAYFAjlAqSIACgkQMstdVsfVbhFLygCglDGHyNc8be8W8ZZEPo2TdQ3rqdwA 
oNXBT0sCLDdox6AuTL5OYdwUr+rS =zMuP 
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

The "fingerprint" for this key is: C18A F357 D8AA E4D1 C334 D4FD 32CB 5D56 C7D5 6E11

This key is also available from http://pgpkeys.mit.edu:11371 and ldap://certserver.pgp.com, both of which are automatically used by PGPKeys, a utility included in the PGP desktop.

Once you've set up PGP Desktop or GnuPG/Enigmail and loaded my key, you can write encrypted emails to me and verify my signature on email or files I send to you. For me to send you encrypted email, I have to know your public key, though.

A tip: when sending encrypted email, encrypt it both for the destinee and for yourself. That way you can actually read your own sent emails later...

Using PGP with Outlook Express

The freeware version of PGP doesn't support Outlook Express directly. Older versions do, but not very well. This is so easy to work around that it is not a reason in itself to go and pay for something or for not using PGP. The way to do encryption is:

  1. Write a new message in Outlook Express
  2. Hit ctrl-A, which makes Outlook Express select the entire contents of the message
  3. Hit ctrl-shift-E, the hotkey for PGP to do encryption
  4. Select the destinees key and also select your own key (so you can decrypt and read sent messages later), click OK
  5. Automagically, PGP has replaced your plaintext message with the encrypted version, so just send it.

To decrypt a message you received:

  1. Open the message in Outlook Express and click somewhere in the message pane.
  2. Hit ctrl-A, selecting the entire encrypted content.
  3. Hit ctrl-shift-D, the hotkey for PGP to do decryption
  4. Enter your personal passphrase to enable decryption
  5. Automagically, PGP pops up a window showing the decrypted contents, but it does not replace the original encrypted message. If you want to keep the decrypted contents to quote in a reply, for instance, you have to copy it from this popup window.

Honestly and truly, this is all there is to it.

Using PGP with anything else

In whatever textbased program, you can select the text to encrypt (or decrypt), then use the PGP hotkeys, which by default are ctrl-shift-E resp. ctrl-shift-D.

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