The OpenPGP standard from the OpenPGP Working group is based on the original PGP standard that was created by Philip Zimmermann in 1991. GNU Privacy Guard [GnuPG) is a complete and free implementation of OpenPGP. This article shows you how to use GnuPG and its supporting tools.

Although GnuPG is free and is available for many computing platforms, it is not so easy to use. This is because it has a command line interface. That means you have to type in a series of commands to use it. If you used MS DOS or older Unix systems, then you would be comfortable using GnuPG. But Windows and Mac users will seek an easier point-and-click interface.

But do not despairl A graphic frontend is available for GnuPG. And if you want to encrypt your Outlook e-mail, there is an add-on that integrates GnuPG with Microsoft Outlook. Plug-ins for other mail programs are available at . The GNU Privacy Guard - GnuPG.org [under the head/link "MUA Front-ends"').

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This site also offers other graphics front-ends for Windows and other operating systems. To get all this, you need to use a package called Gpg4win. It is a package that has been put together by the Federal Office for Information Security [Germany) and it consists of several components. These following are the components:
1. GNUPG - The actual encryption software
2. WINPT - Windows Privacy Tray is a graphic Windows interface for GnuPG
4.GPA - An alternative key manager
5.GPCOl- A plug-in for Microsoft Outlook 2003 [e-mail encryption]. GPGEE - A plug-in for Windows Explorer, which allows encryption of files and folders
6. SYlPHEED-ClAWS - A complete e-mail program including the plugin for GnuPG.