Shomer Derech Vault Beta Tester Agreement

Effective date: October 12, 2026  ·  Version: 2026-10-12  ·  Program status: Beta (Shomer Derech Vault 2.4 beta builds)

Provider: Derech Technologies LLC ("Derech", "we"), 88 Marchakitus Rd, Hunlock Creek, PA 18621  ·  derechtechnologies@gmail.com

1. What Shomer is, and what it is not

Shomer Derech Vault is backup software for Windows. It watches the folders you choose, copies changed files to the backup destination you choose, keeps a number of earlier versions of each file, and checks each copy against a stored hash so you can tell whether it is intact. If you turn encryption on, each copy is encrypted with AES-256-GCM under a passphrase you choose. Shomer also watches for activity that looks like ransomware and can pause backups when it sees it, and it can ask Windows Defender to scan files and apply its own detection rules on demand.

2. Who may join the beta

• You must be at least 18 and have received a beta key from us. Each key is issued to one named person and carries your name and email address inside it.
• You must own, or be authorised to administer, the computer you test on. Installing the beta needs administrator rights and installs a Windows service that runs with system-level rights (Section 4). It needs Windows 10 or newer.
• If you are testing on behalf of a business or organisation, you confirm you have its authority to accept this Agreement and to install software of this kind on its computer.
• We choose who joins the beta and how many testers there are. We may decline or end any invitation.

3. Your beta licence and your key

• We give you a personal, non-transferable, non-exclusive licence to install and use the beta on the number of computers your key states (normally one) for the beta period only. A one-computer key locks itself to the first computer it is activated on.
• Your key is checked on your own computer using a digital signature. Activating does not contact us and needs no internet connection. Because of that, we cannot switch a key off from a distance. A key stops working on the expiry date it carries; Shomer re-checks that date daily while it runs. After expiry Shomer stops protecting until you receive a new key. Your files and your existing backups are not touched.
• Your key, the installer and the download link are for you alone. Do not give, lend, sell or post them. If someone else would like to test Shomer, ask them to contact us.
• Do not copy, modify, decompile or reverse-engineer the beta, and do not try to get around the key check. The software belongs to Derech Technologies. Your files and your backups belong to you.

4. What the beta installs and changes on your computer

The installer shows you the EULA and asks only one further question: whether to keep a tray icon running. Everything else below is part of every install.

• A Windows service named ShomerDerechVault that starts when the computer boots and runs in the background with system-level rights, so it can read the folders you back up and write to the destination. If the service stops unexpectedly, Windows restarts it.
• A scheduled task named ShomerVaultWakeBackup that may wake the computer from sleep to run the nightly backup. The service creates this task when it starts and repairs it hourly if it is missing.
• A small web page, the dashboard, served only on your own computer at 127.0.0.1, port 7777. It cannot be reached from your network or the internet.
• A data folder, normally C:\ProgramData\Shomer, holding your settings, backup history, licence record and encryption key material. Log files are kept in the install folder.
• If you tick the tray-icon option: a tray icon that starts when you sign in, and a second scheduled task, ShomerVaultTray, that restarts the icon if it stops.

Please test only on a computer where all of this is acceptable.

5. What we ask of you as a tester

• Keep a second backup. This is a test version. It may have mistakes, behave unexpectedly, or fail to back up or restore your files correctly. Keep another backup, made by other means, of anything you cannot afford to lose, including at least one copy kept away from the computer you are testing on. Do not use the beta as your only backup.
• Test restores on files you can spare. A backup you have never restored from is not yet proven.
• Check the dashboard now and then. If Shomer pauses protection (Section 7), it stays paused, including across restarts, until you click Resume. Shomer sends us nothing, so we cannot see that it has paused or that a run has failed; only you can.
• Report bugs and oddities. Tell us what you saw, when, and what you expected instead. The dashboard's activity log and the diagnostic file (Section 8) help us most. Please tell us in particular whenever Shomer pauses and you think it should not have, or fails to pause when you think it should.
• Install new builds when we send them, within a reasonable time, and tell us if a build makes things worse.
• Be careful with other people's data. If the folders you back up contain personal information about other people, you are responsible for being allowed to copy it and for keeping those copies safe.

6. Encryption, your passphrase and the master key

If you turn on encryption, your passphrase and a master key that Shomer generates and stores in its data folder are the only way back into your encrypted backups. We hold no copy of either and have no way to recover, reset or bypass them. Write your passphrase down and keep it somewhere safe.

When you uninstall, the uninstaller asks whether to delete the data folder. Choosing Yes destroys the master key, and any encrypted backups then become permanently unreadable. Choose No if you might reinstall or still want those backups. Your backed-up files on the destination drive are never deleted by the uninstaller.

7. The protection pause

While a backup runs, Shomer looks for signs of ransomware: a burst of files appearing with known ransomware extensions, or a sample of files that mostly look like scrambled data. When it sees them it stops backing up until you resume it, so that damaged files do not overwrite good copies. A large number of deletions in a short time, such as moving or renaming a folder, produces a warning and a desktop notification but no longer pauses backups.

These checks can be wrong in either direction: they can pause on harmless activity, and they can miss a real attack. You can turn the pause off in Settings, in which case Shomer keeps backing up during a suspected attack. Some of the checks run only while real-time folder watching is switched on.

8. The data the beta touches, and what leaves your computer

From the Shomer engine itself: nothing. The engine has no analytics, usage tracking, crash reporting, update check or other "phone home" connection, and it sends no email. Your files, file names, folder paths, backups, passphrase and licence key are never sent to us. Desktop notifications are shown locally by Windows. When you ask Shomer to run a scan, it runs Windows Defender on your own machine; Defender's own settings, including any cloud features Microsoft provides, are Microsoft's and not ours.

Two things do reach other companies, and we want you to know about them:

• AI-Enhanced Mode is off unless you switch it on and enter your own API key. If you do, then only when the detector flags an anomaly, Shomer sends the provider you chose (Anthropic, OpenAI, or a custom endpoint you configure) a summary: the kind of anomaly, how many files and bytes changed, a count of the file types involved, averages from your recent backup history, and the names (without folder paths) of any files that looked scrambled. Never file contents, never your backups, passphrase or licence key. The request goes straight from your computer to that provider and never through us. A file name can give something away on its own, so decide with that in mind. That provider's terms and charges apply and you pay them directly. Your API key is kept in Shomer's settings file in the data folder. It is not encrypted there, so treat that file as sensitive.
• Fonts. The dashboard pages load their typeface from Google Fonts, so your browser contacts Google when you open the dashboard, as it does for most websites. Nothing about your files is in that request.

What we hold about you: your name and email address, the record of the beta key we issued you, and anything you send us. If you send us a diagnostic file (made with CHECK-233.bat or diag.bat), it contains your settings and log lines, which include folder paths and file names from your computer; your API key and stored passphrase material are redacted automatically. Please read the file before you send it. You decide what we receive. We use what you send only to run the beta, fix problems and improve Shomer, and we do not sell or share it. You can ask us to delete it at any time, subject to any record we must keep by law.

9. Confidentiality

You may tell people that you are testing Shomer. Until we launch publicly, or tell you in writing that you may, please do not share the installer or download link, post screenshots, publish performance figures or comparisons, or describe unreleased features, pricing we discuss with you, or anything we tell you about future plans. If you find a security weakness, report it to us privately first and give us a reasonable time to fix it before telling anyone else. This section continues to apply after your participation ends, until the information becomes public through no fault of yours.

10. Your feedback

We want your reports, criticisms and ideas. By sending them you allow us to use them freely to improve Shomer and our other products, without owing you anything for them, and without any claim on your part to the software or its features. We will not name you or quote you publicly without your permission.

11. Beta software, warranties and liability

The beta is provided "as is" and "as available", for testing and evaluation. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Derech disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. We do not promise that the beta will be uninterrupted, error-free or secure, that defects will be fixed, or that any backup will complete or any restore will succeed. We may change or stop the beta at any time. We have no support obligation during the beta, although we intend to answer your emails.

Derech is not liable for indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages, or for loss of data you did not back up by other means. Derech's total liability for any claim relating to the beta is limited to the amount you paid for it, or $100 if you paid nothing. Nothing in this Agreement limits liability that cannot be limited by law, including for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for our own gross negligence or wilful misconduct. If you are a consumer, the law where you live may give you rights this Agreement cannot take away.

12. Cost

You pay nothing to take part in the beta. Any charges from an AI provider you choose to connect are between you and that provider (Section 8). If we offer beta testers a discount or an "own forever" licence at launch, we will set that out separately before you are charged anything.

13. Term and ending the agreement

• This Agreement starts when you accept it and runs until the expiry date shown in your invitation and carried in your key, unless we send you a new key. We may extend the beta or end it early; we will tell you by email.
• Either of us may end your participation at any time by email. If you break this Agreement, your licence ends at once and we will ask you to uninstall the beta, and you agree to do so.
• When your participation ends, uninstall the beta. Your files and your backups remain yours. If you want to keep reading encrypted backups, keep the data folder (Section 6).
• Sections 3, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 14 survive the end of this Agreement.

14. General

• This Agreement is governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, USA, and disputes will be heard in the state or federal courts for Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, unless the law where you live gives you other rights.
• If any part of this Agreement is found unenforceable, the rest remains in force.
• This Agreement and the EULA are the whole agreement between us about the beta, unless we have signed a separate agreement with you or your organisation.
• We may update this Agreement. The version date above changes with every edit; we will email you about material changes before they take effect, and you may end your participation if you do not accept them.

15. Contact

Derech Technologies LLC, 88 Marchakitus Rd, Hunlock Creek, PA 18621  ·  derechtechnologies@gmail.com