A PGP Universal Server can be used to control the policies and settings used by components of PGP Desktop. This is often the case in enterprises using PGP software. PGP Desktop users in this configuration are known as managed users, because the settings and policies available in their PGP Desktop software are pre-configured by a PGP administrator and managed using a PGP Universal Server. If you are part of a managed environment, your company may have specific usage requirements. For example, managed users may or may not be allowed to send plaintext email, or may be required to encrypt their disk with PGP Whole Disk Encryption.
Users not under the control of a PGP Universal Server are called unmanaged or standalone users.
This document describes how PGP Desktop works in both situations; however, managed users may discover while working with the product that some of the settings described in this document are not available in their environments. For more information, see Using PGP Desktop with PGP Universal Server (on page 309). Note: References to PGP Universal Server-managed environments do not apply to the PGP Virtual Disk or PGP Virtual Disk Professional products.