How to use HashPW

This section shows you how to use all the functions, HashPW provides.

HashPW creates unique hash passwords from a master password and a second string. You can get your hash password in 4 simple steps. So after starting HashPW:
(1) Type in your master password in the password entry field
(2) Choose a string on the tree (in this example the string is "www.mk2k.net")
(3) Choose the hash function to use
(4) Click the "Make HashPW" button.
(5) Your hash password is displayed in the lower field, from there you can select and copy it to the clipboard or press one of the two buttons below:
The "Copy first 8 Chars" button copies the first eight characters of the hash password

When you create a unique hash password, of course you want to re-use it later. To ensure that you create the same hash password the following settings have to stay the same:

The master password	if the master password isn't the same, of course the hash password changes
The string	the string you made and selected in the list has to be the same
The hash function	different hash functions result in different hash passwords
The character set	HashPW maps the created hash password to a character set, for example "a-z, A-Z and 0-9", if this setting changed, the hash password will change too

Read the next sub sections below on how to manage the character string list and the character set below.

You can insert new rows and children to the list tree by either choosing "Strings" from the main menu or pressing the right mouse button in the tree list. Then choose either "Insert Row" or "Insert Child" and a new string gets added relative to the currently selected one.
Change the content in a string by first selecting it and after that click once with the left mouse button or press F2.
Choose "File -> Save Strings" from the main menu or press Ctrl+S to save your current string tree list to hashpwstrings.txt
Without knowing your secret master password, nobody is able to re-create the hash password. Therefore you don't need to worry about the string list, you can even publish it online if you want.

HashPW internally creates a hash which then gets mapped to a character set that you defined. By default this character set contains all 94 printable ASCII characters including 32 special characters.
If you don't want to use all 94 printable ASCII characters, you can set up the character set that HashPW should use to create the hash password. Choose "Options -> Character Set Settings" or press Ctrl+O and the Character Set Settings window appears.
The following options are available:

• All printable ASCII characters maps the generated hash to different 94 characters
• Character Groups, here you can choose which chracter groups should be used:
  • a-z: all lowercase alphabetical characters
  • A-Z: all uppercase alphabetical characters
  • 0-9: all numeric characters
  • 4 different groups of special characters
• Lowercase and Uppercase Hexadecimal maps the hash to 16 different characters (0-9 and a-f) the hash password is twice as large as in the other options.
• Custom let's you directly choose which characters are to be used, type them all in the field

Exit the Character Set Settings window by clicking the OK button to make the changes active. Choose File -> Save Settings in the main menu to save the character set settings and the chosen hash function (read below).

HashPW provides 14 different hash functions to choose from. The following table shows the hash functions and the size of the resulting hash password.

MD2, MD4, MD5	16 characters
RIPEMD-128	16 characters
RIPEMD-160	20 characters
RIPEMD-256	32 characters
RIPEMD-320	40 characters
SHA-1	20 characters
SHA-224	28 characters
SHA-256	32 characters
SHA-384	48 characters
SHA-512	64 characters
Tiger	24 characters
WHIRLPOOL	64 characters

If you chose a hexadecimal character set, the size of the hash password is doubled.