If you have a computer and are connected to the Internet then your computer is at risk of having files stolen. While most of the files you have may be innocuous, if there is any personal information in them such as birthdays, social insurance numbers or financial data then you will want to make sure this information is protect from prying eyes. The easiest way to do this is to password protect your documents.
Anyone who keeps financial data such as credit card or bank account numbers should ensure they password protect their documents. Additionally, if you work in an office and handle sensitive information about your company or any of your clients these documents should be protected as well. Doing so can save you a lot of trouble should the files fall into the wrong hands.
There is one small downside to password protecting your documents " what happens if you lose the password to a file? While you probably like to write down the passwords to your documents somewhere, this is not very safe as someone could find them and all your documents would be at risk. At the same time if you dont write them down you run the risk of losing all your important data if you forget the passwords associated with the files.
Luckily there are programs out there which are designed to help you retrieve your files should you forget the password. These programs, referred to as password recovery software, work in a few different ways to figure out what password you used.
Initially the program will try to open your document using a combination of letters and number to see if it can guess the right password. This may work to gain entry into your files, but if you used a long or complex password that includes a variety of characters and symbols it may not succeed.
To start the program will work through the dictionary, combining each word with numbers or symbols if you request. If your password is an actually word, then you should have some luck here. Otherwise the software recovery tool will carry on to the next step, which is to try combinations of letters, numbers and symbols until it finds the right combination. The more complicated your password is, the longer the program will take to find the answer.
If your password is very complex there is a chance that the software will not be able crack your password. In this case you will need to take the last resort option and have the software disable your password protection entirely. While this is not the best option as it will leave your files vulnerable while you re-protect them, if you cant get into your files by other means and your files are important to you then it has to be done.
Password recover software can be used on many different types of files and even Windows itself, should you forget how to access your computer. Remember that you should only be using password recovery software to access your own files, as using it to open someone elses documents is illegal.
Password protecting your file can be a pain yes but think of the alternative. The next time you are password protecting your MS Office file which include: word, excel, outlook, powerpoint, etc you think if creating a separate secure password protected file to store all your passwords in. This way you can open them all with the simple use of one password.
Anyone who keeps financial data such as credit card or bank account numbers should ensure they password protect their documents. Additionally, if you work in an office and handle sensitive information about your company or any of your clients these documents should be protected as well. Doing so can save you a lot of trouble should the files fall into the wrong hands.
There is one small downside to password protecting your documents " what happens if you lose the password to a file? While you probably like to write down the passwords to your documents somewhere, this is not very safe as someone could find them and all your documents would be at risk. At the same time if you dont write them down you run the risk of losing all your important data if you forget the passwords associated with the files.
Luckily there are programs out there which are designed to help you retrieve your files should you forget the password. These programs, referred to as password recovery software, work in a few different ways to figure out what password you used.
Initially the program will try to open your document using a combination of letters and number to see if it can guess the right password. This may work to gain entry into your files, but if you used a long or complex password that includes a variety of characters and symbols it may not succeed.
To start the program will work through the dictionary, combining each word with numbers or symbols if you request. If your password is an actually word, then you should have some luck here. Otherwise the software recovery tool will carry on to the next step, which is to try combinations of letters, numbers and symbols until it finds the right combination. The more complicated your password is, the longer the program will take to find the answer.
If your password is very complex there is a chance that the software will not be able crack your password. In this case you will need to take the last resort option and have the software disable your password protection entirely. While this is not the best option as it will leave your files vulnerable while you re-protect them, if you cant get into your files by other means and your files are important to you then it has to be done.
Password recover software can be used on many different types of files and even Windows itself, should you forget how to access your computer. Remember that you should only be using password recovery software to access your own files, as using it to open someone elses documents is illegal.
Password protecting your file can be a pain yes but think of the alternative. The next time you are password protecting your MS Office file which include: word, excel, outlook, powerpoint, etc you think if creating a separate secure password protected file to store all your passwords in. This way you can open them all with the simple use of one password.
About the Author:
Albert McZeally has many articles on office security. If you are interested in learning more about Office Password Recovery, read more of Alberts complete resources or articles on the subject matter. Complete information on word recovery software available at Word Password Recovery.
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