Microcosm Software - Ask For Password

This document contains these sections:

What This Script Does

This script is a password protection script for Microsoft Outlook Express and Microsoft Entourage. The script provides the same level of security found in Outlook Express version 4.x. The script prompts you for a password when your emailer is launched. It also allows you to change your password and set certain characteristics of the script via a built-in user interface. The script has full support for multiple identities.

The first time the script is run (and when the Command key is held down during script startup), the script displays a settings window allowing you to configure the script options. The script optionally closes the emailer's Main Window immediately at startup, leaving the contents hidden until the user enters the password correctly. When the user enteres the password correctly, the script displays the emailer's Main Window and allows the user to access to the emailer.

NOTE: On some computers the emailer's Main Window may not open up again after you have correctly entered the password. If this happens, you can easily open up the Main Window manually by choosing Window > Main Window from the emailer's menu bar or by pressing Command-1 on your keyboard.

Background

The password on startup feature was removed from Microsoft Outlook Express 5 and does not exist in future versions of Outlook Express or in Microsoft Entourage. There were two reasons given for removing the password feature:

1) The password scheme in Outlook Express 4.x was easily bypassed. Simply removing the Outlook Express Preferences file would allow anyone to remove the user password

2) Apple is providing operating system level password and voice print logon in Mac OS 9 and future versions off the Mac OS.

This type of security is best handled at the operating system level and not the application level. Even with the password feature in previous versions of Outlook Express, someone could easily walk up to your computer and access any file they wanted, including your Outlook Express mail.

Requirements

This script can run in Microsoft Outlook Express version 5.x and Microsoft Entourage. In order to run this script, you need to have two scripting additions installed in the Scripting Additions folder of the System Folder: Sändi's Additions and Dialog Director. Both of these scripting additions are available free from <http://osaxen.com/> (part of MacScripter.net) and from other AppleScript resource sites.

TIP: If you are using Mac OS 8.5 or later, your Scripting Additions folder is in the System Folder. If you are using a version of Mac OS prior to version 8.5 then your Scripting Additions folder is in the Extensions Folder in the System Folder.

Installation

1) Install Dialog Director and Sändi's Additions by placing the files into the Scripting Additions folder.

2) Place the Ask For Password script on your hard disk.

NOTE: We recommend placing the Ask For Password script into the emailer's Script Menu Items folder (usually located in the Documents folder on the startup drive). You may, however, wish to place the script in a more inconspicuous place on the hard disk. If you like, you can make the file invisible, preventing other users from accessing or deleting the script.

TIP: To prevent others from editing the script, you may wish to save the script as Run-Only. If you save this script as Run-Only, be sure to keep a copy of the editable script as a backup.

3) Launch your emailer and choose Tools > Schedules from the emailer's menu bar. The emailer displays the Schedules window.

4) Click the New icon at the top-left of the Schedules window to create a new schedule. The emailer displays the Edit Schedule window.

5) Enter into the Name field "Ask For Password".

6) Choose At Startup from the Occurence menu in the When section.

7) Choose Run AppleScript from the Action menu in the Action section.

8) Click the Script… button in the Action section. The emailer diaplays a choose file dialog box. Locate the Ask For Password script file and click Open.

9) Check the Enabled box (at the bottom-left of the window).

Verify that the Edit Schedule window looks like this:

10) Click OK to close the window.

11) Quit and re-launch the emailer. The Ask For Password script will run and ask for the password. Just follow the instructions from there.

Note: The default password is “changeme”. In the future, click the Change Password button to change the password to your own password.

Disclaimer

Use this script at your own risk.

Feel free to modify this script to suit your individual needs. If you feel others would benefit from changes you make to this script, please email your changes to <embedded email link>.

Do not expect any amount of reasonable password protection from this script other than casual protection. If you want high quality password protection check into one of the following products:

Mac OS 9.x <http://www.apple.com>
PowerOn Disk Lock <http://www.poweronsw.com>
PGP Personal Privacy <http://www.pgp.com/>

About Smile

This script was written using the Smile script editor, available free at <http://www.tandb.com.au/smile>. Smile is a wonderful editor of much greater power than Apple’s Script Editor. The script icon should look like Script Editor script icons but with Smile’s proprietary red-blue stripe. If you don’t have Smile installed on your computer, the script icon may appear as a generic blank document icons (like a sheet of paper with the top right-hand corner folded down). This is OK. You do not need Smile to use or view the script – but I do recommend it for anyone interested in scripting.

Change Log

Note: This script was originally written by , Omar Shahine, , and .

• adaptation for hiding the Main Window by

1.4.4 - 3/22/2002-
Changed the code for opening and closing the Main window and for obtaining the current identity into raw event code. This prevents AppleScript from asking you to locate "Outlook Express" or "Microsoft Entourage" if you do not have it installed. The bad side effect of this is that you have to edit some parts of the script each time you save the script, or the script will generate errors the next time you run it. If you edit the script, please read the IMPORTANT NOTICE at the top of the script and follow the instructions for best results.

1.4.3 - 2/5/2002-
Changed the code for closing the Main Window in Outlook Express to use the "close window 1" command rather than using Sandi's Additions.
Apparently the bug where the Main Window would not close when the script started up was not actually fixed. It seems that sometimes Outlook Express does not respond to Command-1 as it should. The menu highlights, but nothing hapens. I've modified the script to issue Command-1 three times in a row, which seems to do the trick on my machine. If you find that the Main Window sometimes does not open after you input your password, you might want to increase the number of times the script issues Command-1 to Outlook Express. If you need help with this, feel free to email me. — Again, special thanks to Karen Litchfield for notifying me of this bug!

1.4.2 - 2/3/2002-
Fixed a bug where the Main Window would not close when the script started up — Special thanks to Karen Litchfield for notifying me of this bug!

1.4.1 - 09/22/2001 -
Fixed a bug that caused the Settings dialog box not to be displayed when the user held down the Option key on startup.
Changed the key to invoke Settings from ption to Command.

1.4 - 09/21/2001 -
Added full support for multiple Identities.
The script now lets you open the Settings dialog by holding down the option key on startup.
Re-created all of the more complex dialogs in Dialog Studio pro.
Dialog Studio templates are included in the Dialog Sources folder.

1.3 - 05/23/2001 -
Edited the ReadMe for grammar and spelling. (It could problably use more! =)
Consolidated the ReadMe information by merging relevant information from other ReadMe documents into this one.
Added the 'vers' resources so that the script version is displayed in the Get Info window.
Renamed the script to "Ask For Password", removing the version from the name.
Added the Settings window and incorporated the following settings into the script:
* whether or not to hide the Main Window during password verification
* whether or not to delay script execution at launch and by how many seconds
* the initial (default) password
The script now automatically detects whether you are using Outlook Express or Microsoft Entourage, and adjusts accordingly.

1.2
The script now incorporates a delay at the start to give the emailer a chance to open up first, if you have a sluggish emailer startup. (Note: To speed up the emailer, you might want to try starting the emailer once, before you install this script, holding down the option key at startup. Click “yes” to the first question, and “no” to the second question.)