UPR Guide part 2 : Working with Ubuntu Privacy

UPR Guide part 2 : Working with Ubuntu Privacy Remix
Version 10.04, 10/13/10
Table of Contents
1 Start Ubuntu Privacy Remix ...............................................................................................1
2 Working with USB flash drives and diskettes ....................................................................2
3 Open extended TrueCrypt volume .....................................................................................3
4 Open normal TrueCrypt Volume ........................................................................................4
5 Open and store data in the container, or “where are my files?” ........................................7
6 Encrypt and decrypt files ....................................................................................................8
7 Compress and unzip files ...................................................................................................9
8 Searching files with Beagle ..............................................................................................10
9 Tasks and Schedules with Evolution ................................................................................11
10 Project planning with Planner .........................................................................................11
11 Timekeeping with the Hamster Panel-Applet .................................................................12
12 Secure saving of passwords with password manager FPM ..........................................12
13 Overwriting of free space ...............................................................................................13
14 Close extended TrueCrypt volumes and create automatic backups .............................14
15 Close normal TrueCrypt-Container ...............................................................................16
16 Restoring data from backup............................................................................................16
17 Check Truecrypt Container for defects ..........................................................................17
18 Rename and check storage media with the Disk Utility ................................................17
19 Quit Ubuntu Privacy Remix ............................................................................................19
1 Start Ubuntu Privacy Remix
Please refer to the instructions “Set up Ubuntu Privacy Remix” before the first use.
Start the computer by inserting the Ubuntu-Privacy-Remix-DVD resp. USB drive. The
computer is booting you see the Ubuntu-Privacy-Remix boot screen. By pressing “Esc”, a
boot menu with various options can be accessed, otherwise the default selection starts
automatically.
After some time, the operating system will start and you see the following desktop:
UPR Guide part 2 : Working with Ubuntu Privacy Remix
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2 Working with USB flash drives and diskettes
An USB flash drive is simply inserted, automatically recognised and the content displayed
in the window of the file manager:
The file manager window can also be opened by double clicking the icon of the USB flash
drive.
Diskettes (floppy disks) are not recognised automatically. After having inserted a diskette,
it needs to be mounted. To do this, select ”Applications” → “System Tools” → “Mount
Floppy”. Afterwards, the symbol of the diskette is visible on the desktop and a file manager
window is being opened as well.
Important: Before removing diskettes they have to be unmounted like USB flash drives,
in order to avoid loss of data. To do this, in both cases click the icon on the desktop with
the right mouse button (right-click) and select ”Unmount Volume”. The USB flash drive or
diskette can be removed as soon as the icon on the desktop has disappeared.
UPR Guide part 2 : Working with Ubuntu Privacy Remix
Version 10.04, 10/13/10
3 Open extended TrueCrypt volume
Right-click the container file in the file manager and select ”Scripts – extended TC volumes
- open ”:
A window to enter the password appears:
UPR Guide part 2 : Working with Ubuntu Privacy Remix
Version 10.04, 10/13/10
After entering the correct password and confirmation with OK the following message
appears:
The ”Extended TrueCrypt volume” will now be displayed with an own icon and the file
name of the container file on the desktop and the file manager.
4 Open normal TrueCrypt Volume
If the container has the filename extension “.tc”, you can just double-click it and enter the
passphrase (to close it, you still need to open TrueCrypt).
TrueCrypt opens via “Applications – Security – TrueCrypt”. Select the container file by
clicking on ”Select File”. The device name of the drive in the left column of the pull-down
menu is identical with the name of the icon of the drive on the desktop.
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Now you can select any slot in the upper part of the window.
After clicking on ”Mount” and entering the password the volume is mounted. A new icon for
the opened container appears on the desktop.
When mounting the container the name will be formed with ”TrueCrypt” and the respective
slot number. (TrueCrypt1, TrueCrypt2 etc.). When mounting containers which were
generated with older ”Truecrypt”- versions, the advice shown below appears. It is
reasonable, but not necessary, to replace those containers by newly generated.
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Attention with ext3-formatted containers (and also with “Extended containers“, that are to
be opened as normal containers, because an “Extended container“ is already opened, e.g.
to recover files from the Backup-Container):
The extended mount options are to be opened by clicking “Options” in the window for
entering the password. Delete the option “utf8” under “Mount options”.
Afterwards, enter the password and press OK.
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Version 10.04, 10/13/10
5 Open and store data in the container, or “where are my
files?”
In order to open user data from applications like e.g. OpenOffice from within the encrypted
volume or to store them within the volume you select them in the ”Open” or ”Save”
dialogue as follows:
All files in the container can be found in the left column ”Places” under the respective entry
"Truecrypt<n>“ (<n> represents the slot number) or the name of the ”Extended Volume”
(here “test“). In the “Save” dialogue, this view may need to be opened by clicking on
”Directory- Browser”. Of course, files can usually also be opened by double clicking in the
file manager.
UPR Guide part 2 : Working with Ubuntu Privacy Remix
Version 10.04, 10/13/10
6 Encrypt and decrypt files
To encrypt files in the file manager, right-click on one or more selected files or a folder
which contains the files to encrypt and select “encrypt”.
A window to select the keys pops up:
UPR Guide part 2 : Working with Ubuntu Privacy Remix
Version 10.04, 10/13/10
The keys for encrypting are chosen by marking the boxes on the left; hit ”OK” to encrypt
file (you may be asked for the passphrase for the signing key) and it will be saved at the
same place as the original file with the new extension ”pgp”.
If several files are selected to encrypt, a question appears whether the files should be
encrypted separately or as a package:
When selecting “Pack files into
ZIP archive to encrypt them
together”, the files are first
compressed in a ZIP-file and then
encrypted. The default name of
the Zip-file is the current date,
though it can be changed userdefined.
Similarly, to decrypt files, doubleclick the file or right-click it in the
file manager and select “open
with Decrypt". A window to enter
the pass phrase pops up, the file is opened afterwards. If the decrypted file is a ZIP
archive, you will be asked if you want to unpack it. If answered with yes, the archive will be
unpacked to the current folder.
Instead of asking every time, the automatic packing/unpacking can be permanently
activated or deactivated via “Applications” → “Security” → “GnuPG Configuration”.
You can also group several keys into key groups, which can then be selected when
encrypting in the upper half of the window. To create and edit such groups, use
“Applications” → “Security” → “GnuPG Group Editor”.
If you want to see with which keys a file was encrypted, right-click it and select “Open with
GPG-Properties”. In the following window, all recipient keys are shown as long as you
have them on your keyring. The file can then be decrypted if you choose to do so.
7 Compress and unzip files
After right-clicking one or several selected files or directories in the file manager, select
”Compress”. The following window pops up:
The archive format (e.g. ”zip”) can be selected from a list. Generally, the well-known
archive programs (like e.g. Filzip or Winzip) can handle all formats:
The directory in which the original file is stored is the default destination, however, any
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other can be selected as well.
With ”Create”, the file will be compressed (”zipped”) and saved. To unzip files, right-click
the Zip-file and select ”Extract here”, or open the archive manager
by double-clicking the Zip-file to take a look at the content of the archive first, and select
options to unzip.
8 Searching files with Beagle
The indexing service starts automatically by opening the ”Extended volume” and quits
when closing.
With Beagle, files can be searched by means of it’s name, date or contained terms; only
pre- defined paths are searched (see ”Install UPR”). By clicking the magnifier-symbol in
the panel on the upper right or pressing F12, the search-window opens:
Terms contained in the searched documents can now be entered in the search field. Parts
of the words can be replaced by a star; e.g. entering *bunt* delivers all files containing the
words “ubuntu”, “bunt”, “bunted”...If more terms are entered in the search field, all files
containing all searched terms, but in varying positions, are displayed.
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An expression made of several words has to be enclosed in quotation marks. If you want
to find files containing only one of the entered search terms, they have to be combined
with “or” Found files can be opened with a double-click.
9 Tasks and Schedules with Evolution
Evolution is started via "Applications - Office - Evolution mail and calendar". You find a
comprehensive manual in the "online help" of the program. Settings, appointments, notes
etc. are saved automatically in the "extended TrueCrypt volume” when program is closed.
To avoid loss of data, we recommend saving your Evolution data at regular intervals via
“File” → “Backup settings. ” They can then later be restored with “Restore settings...”
10 Project planning with Planner
Planner is started via Applications - Office - Project management" or by double-clicking a
Planner file in the file manager. Opening and saving of files is equivalent with other
application programs like e.g. OpenOffice.
The application is mainly self-explanatory if you have experience with project planning
programs; the program also contains a manual (menu item "help").
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11 Timekeeping with the Hamster Panel-Applet
The timekeeping-tool “Hamster“ starts automatically if an "Extended Volume" is opened
(visible by the indication "No activity" in the upper right of the panel) and ends with the
closing.
A window is opened where further entries can be made by clicking the currently shown
activity:
You can get more help on this program by clicking “Tell me more”. By clicking the first entry
box, a list opens where you can select a term from, or you can enter a new activity in the
box.
Every new activity can be allocated to a category; the category is attached with the @sign when entering a new activity.
After entering or selecting the activity, the timekeeping starts by pressing the Enter-key or
clicking “Start Tracking”.
The ongoing time is shown in the panel, and Hamster reminds in intervals to check if the
ongoing activity is still valid. An overview of the recorded activities of the day appears via
“Today”; by clicking the symbol on the right of every line, all aspects of activities can be
changed manually, as well as an additional description.
By right-clicking the current activity in the panel and choosing “Preferences”, you can
change several settings of the program like the pre-defined activity list.
12 Secure saving of passwords with password manager FPM
The password manager is started via “Applications –
Security – Figaro‘s Password Manager 2” The
password defined during installation is to be entered
in the registration window.
Then, in the next window, the container to be opened
is selected and the password copied into the
clipboard by clicking on “Pass”. (The pushbutton
“Pass”
possibly needs to be made visible by enlarging the
window – move the right edge with the mouse).
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The password can be entered in the Truecrypt window for entering the password by
pressing “Ctrl.+V” Attention: The feature “File – export passwords” writes the passwords in
plain text to the export-file and is not recommended.
The password manager has to be quit before closing the “Extended volume”.
13 Overwriting of free space
To avoid unwatend remains of file on a storage media, free space can be overwritten after
deleting files. Therefore, right-click the icon of the storage media or container on the
desktop and select “Scripts – wipe free space” The following advice appears:
When handling diskettes,
mark the option “Multiple
passes” . Overwriting is
started with “OK”.
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14 Close extended TrueCrypt volumes and create automatic
backups
To use the automatic backup feature, the USB flash drive with the backup container has to
be plugged-in before closing the ”Extended volume”. The “Extended TrueCrypt Volume”
can be closed by right-clicking the icon on the desktop and selecting "Scripts - extended
TC-Volumes – close”:
Attention: The ”Extended volume” cannot be closed as long as contained files are opened.
In this case, an alarm appears asking to close the files. Afterwards, the script to close the
volume has to be re-run. If a drive with a Backup-Container exists, the following message
appears:
After clicking "OK", the passphrase for the Backup Container has to be entered in the
following window.
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The opening window of “GTKrsync” shows the progress of saving and which data is
copied. When the process ends, the window has to be closed by clicking "close". The
backup has been done now, but it is imperative to wait until both containers are closed
before removing the storage media:
If there are other containers open, you will
then be asked if you want to back them up
as well.
If you choose to do so, when backing up a
container for the first time you will have to
enter a name under which the backup will
be saved. Please be careful not to choose
the same name twice. If you do not want to
back up a particular open container among several open ones, close it before choosing
“Yes.”
For each container, the backup progress is shown like above.
When you see this message indicating successful backup, please do not remove the
storage media yet.
Only After the following message and when both
container-icons on the desktop have disappeared,
the USB flash drives may be unmounted via the
context menu.
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Version 10.04, 10/13/10
15 Close normal TrueCrypt-Container
When using the automatic backup feature, all containers are closed automatically after
backup.
Select the container which is to be closed in the TrueCrypt-window:
The selected TrueCrypt-Container is closed by clicking “dismount”. Attention: The
TrueCrypt window possibly shows a concurrent opened "extended container". That cannot
be closed here. This has to be done via the context menu.
16 Restoring data from backup
From the backup container, you can restore individual files, e.g. if they were accidentally
deleted; or even a whole containers' contents.
To do this, you need to open the backup container as a normal container (see #4 of this
guide and pay attention to the special advice on opening ext3 formatted containers). In a
subdirectory named like the container, you will find up to 5 Versions of backup with date
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and time in the directory name.
If you want to recover individual file or folders, you can just copy them over to their
destination using the file manager as usual. If you want to recover configuration data like
GnuPG-Keyrings, you will need to make them visible first by choosing “View” → “Show
hidden files”.
To recover a whole container, you should create a new “Extended Volume”. But this time,
open it as a normal container, just like the backup container. Then, open the directory with
the most recent backup. Make all files visible with “View” → “Show hidden files”. Then
select all files, copy and paste them to the new container (by right-clicking on its desktop
icon and choosing “Paste into folder”). If you have opened this new container as an
“Extended volume” before, the configuration files which were created automatically during
this step now need to be replaced, so if you are asked if you want to overwrite existing
files, choose “Yes”.
After copying, close both containers (“dismount” in TrueCrypt). Then you can open your
new extended Volume as usual with the context menu.
17 Check Truecrypt Container for defects
A TrueCrypt Container can be checked for errors in the file system with the script “check“,
e.g. when it wasn‘t closed properly, or the files aren‘t shown properly. If possible, detected
errors are automatically repaired. In every case, you should perform a backup of the
container before (either by automatic backup or by copying the container). Right-click on
the container and select “Scripts – check” while container is closed and enter the
password for the container afterwards. If everything is OK, the message “No errors were
found during this check” appears.
18 Rename and check storage media with the Disk Utility
The disk utility is located in menu “system”, then “Administration”.
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It mainly serves the partitioning of
hard drives. It can also be used to
rename storage media like flash
drives and perform error checking.
This is for normal media in both
cases, not for Truecrypt Volumes.
Truecrypt
Volumes
can
be
renamed inside Truecrypt, for error
checking use the script “Check”
(see above).
All opened files on the respective media have to be closed to work with the partition editor.
Afterwards, the respective drive is to be selected on the left side and unmounted by
clicking “Unmount Volume”, but not unplugged.
After unmounting, a button “Edit filesystem label” appears.
Clicking it will open a new window, where you can enter the new name. Enter the new
name and confirm with “OK”.
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Before checking a drive, backup all data on it first.
Then, with the drive unmounted like above, click “Check filesystem”. The check starts
immediately, and if everything is OK the following should appear:
19 Quit Ubuntu Privacy Remix
After closing all containers and unmounting the storage media (see # 2), Ubuntu can be
terminated by clicking the "switch button" in the upper right corner and choosing
"shutdown". Confirm “Shutdown” in the following window.
When the computer was booted from DVD, it will be ejected at the end, and you will have
to press “Enter” to completely shutdown the computer.