The Secure Tool for Recalling Important Passwords

Attention Palm Strip Users! Strip for Palm OS is no longer supported. However, we have just released a free Palm Strip Export utility that can dump your Palm OS 2.0 databases to a CSV text file. Check it out here.

How many passwords do you have to remember on a daily basis? Even average Internet users can quickly become bogged down. Strip is a password and account manager for the Palm(T) Computing Platform. Strip has many advanced features, including:

  • 256 bit block encryption of all databases using AES
  • Beam accounts and categories to other Strip users
  • Support for 5-way navigation on Treo devices
  • Fully searchable using the Palm’s “Find” feature

Strip was designed from the ground up to fit the needs of IT professionals. With Strip, you don’t have to worry about your critical system access codes and personal account information getting into the wrong hands. It also provides you incredibly flexibility to easily store, lookup, backup, and sync information.

  • Perfect For Groups

    Your categories and accounts can be shared and sync’d with your co-workers using Infrared beaming! Strip uses internal hashing to distinguish which records need to be synchronized.

  • Free and Open Source

    We believe in the power of open source development and peer review when it comes to security software. You don’t have to take our word for it that Strip is secure, you can have a look at the code yourself. Did we mention that it’s free?

  • Security First

    Strip automatically locks the screen when your Palm powers off. It also has on otpional login time-out to lock Strip when it becomes idle. Login screen has password protection with option echo off. There’s also an optional random password generator.

Disaster Recovery

Restoring Strip Databases after a crash

It is important to realize that Strip does keep backups of its databases on your PC when you hotsync. These are fully encrypted, and only exist to prevent complete data loss in the event of a Hard Reset, batter drainage, or a fatal crash. In the event of data loss your Palm Desktop Software should automatically restore the Strip application and its databases.

However, depending on the version of your Palm desktop software it may not be automatically restored when you hotsync! This is a problem with some versions of the Palm Desktop software, not Strip. If, after a hotsync following data loss, please do not panic – your data is still safe! Even if the Strip application and its data are not restored automatically you can always do the restore by hand using the Palm install tool.

Performing a manual recovery

  1. Locate these files in C:\Program Files\palm\username\backups (or your Operating System/Install equivalent): (Depending on the version of your Palm Hotsync software and configuration Strip.prc may not be there)
    • StripAccounts-SJLO.pdb,
    • StripPassword-SJLO.pdb,
    • StripSystems-SJLO.pdb,
    • and Strip.prc
  2. If Strip.prc is not present you need to download the same “letter version” from our downloads, below. The “i” version is not compatible with the “d” version – so you need to grab the right one. If you are not sure which one you were using please download both.
  3. Use the Palm Install to select each of the aforementioned files for installation onto your palm.
  4. Place your Palm in its cradle and Hotsync.
  5. Tap the Strip icon and enter your password. Your password will be exactly the same as it was before the crash/hard reset.
  6. If you get a dialog saying “Incorrect Password”, then you installed the wrong “letter version” of Strip. Try installing one of the other versions.
  7. Otherwise go back to using Strip! Your data will be complete as of the last time you hotsync’ed the palm before the Hard Reset or crash.
  8. This is probably a good time to go to Palm’s support website and download the latest available version of the Palm Desktop and Hotsync software. The newer versions will proper handle restores.

Third party backup solutions

A feature packed third party backup solution called BackupBuddy is capable of more intelligent backup management for your Palm organizer. It integrates seamlessly with your current desktop software and can ensure that all of your data is automatically restored in the event of data loss. It is available from http://www.bluenomad.com/. Zetetic is not affiliated with the makers of BackupBuddy, but it has been highly recommended by several Strip users.

Upgrading to Strip 1.0

Follow these steps to upgrade to Strip 1.0 from an earlier version. Note: If this is the first time you are using Strip it is not neccesary to run StripCS!

  1. Hotsync your palm pilot. This will make backups of your old databases.
  2. Navigate to your backup directory (usually in C:\Program Files\Palm\hotsync id\Backup and make copies of the following files in a different location on your hard disk: StripAccounts-SJLO.pdb StripSystems-SJLO.pdb StripPassword-SJLO.pdb Strip.prc
  3. Unzip the Strip 1.0 distribution using a tool like WinZip.
  4. If you are upgrading from Strip 0.5 you should skip to step 9. If you are using Strip 0.4 or earlier you need to update your databases to 0.5, and run 0.5 at least once before continuing.
  5. Choose the files in the “old-bin” directory named Strip_0.5.prc and StripCS_0.5.prc for installation using the Palm install tool. Hotsync to install the file.
  6. If you were using Strip 0.4d (DES) skip to step 8.
  7. On your Palm, tap the Icon for StripCS. Select one of these options from the list: 3-Way → DES Idea → DES StripCS will re-write your databases to the 0.5 version. When it is done it will reset your palm – do not be alarmed you will not loose any data. If you get an error that you entered the wrong passphrase you probably chose the wrong upgrade option from the list. Try the other one.
  8. Tap the icon for Strip, and enter your passphrase to log into Strip 0.5. Once you successfully log into Strip 0.5d once you can safely exit and continue with the upgrade to 0.6.
  9. On your PC, Choose the files named Strip.prc and StripCS.prc for installation using the Palm Install Tool.
  10. Hostsync your Palm to install the PRC files.
  11. On your Palm, tap the icon for StripCS.
  12. Choose the version of Strip you want to upgrade. For example, if you were using 0.5i (IDEA), you should select “IDEA (i) to AES®” from the list.
  13. Enter your pass phrase and tap the “Re-Crypt” button. If you get an error message you chose the wron upgrade type. Re-select the type (step 7), and try again. If you entered the right passphrase StripCS will rewrite your database to the new format. THIS MAY TAKE A WHILE. Do not interrupt StripCS or reset your palm while StripCS is working. When it is finished it will display a summary of the number of Categories and Accounts it modified. When you press the “Ok” button your palm will reset – do not be alarmed, you will not suffer any data loss.
  14. Tap the Strip icon, enter your passphrase, and enjoy the new version of Strip!

Downloading Strip for Palm OS

Development of Palm Strip

We have stopped actively developing Palm Strip, but it is free and open-source software and we encourage anybody with an interest in taking the software forward to do so, as there are still lots of Palm devices out there. To encourage collaborative and open-source development, we’ve pushed the Strip 2.0 source code up to GitHub, and we encourage you to fork it and hack away. If you want to contribute changes to our particular distro, just send us a pull request.

http://github.com/sjlombardo/strip-palm