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george_sinclair@xxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Everytime I startup my machine the first thing I get is a pop up telling me that "No secret key was found" and asking if I want to create one. So, what are the main reasons for having a secret key ?
GPG key pairs are used for various types of public key cryptography most common is signing emails and signing software packages. It is an attempt to give some confidence that the email or software comes from who it says it does. It also preserves the privacy of email between people who use similar cryptographic systems, including many of the more active Linux User Group members here. (It can also protect your emails from you if you lose the relevant secret key). You can also encrypt files on disk, but there are other and possibly better ways of doing this. If none of these activities are important to you, you don't need a key yet. In a legal sense a digital signature is considered in the same vain as a written signature, so it maybe as the world become more cryptographically literate everyone will need a key pair. Then we will all have to learn how to protect our keys properly etc etc.
If I decide that I can do without it how can I stop the pop up (kgpg) ?
I think it is in the 'session' for KDE3 on Debian by default, just exit the KGPG app from the tool bar, and save session settings on logout. But more generally just track down where KGPG is starting and don't start it.
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