Help

Installing the software

To install this software follow these steps:

• Download the software to a temporary directory
• Use WinZip to unpack the archive
• If your system does not have the .NET framework, then use Windows Update to download and install it
• Run FreeWordExcelPasswordWizard.msi from the temporary directory. This will install the software
• Don't run the SETUP.EXE file as this is used by .NET - if you do, start your system in safe mode, rename the setup.exe, and then restart.
• You can uninstall using the Control Panel, and Add/Remove programs.

Product limitations

Sometimes the program tells you that a file is not protected, when you know it is. This is due to:

• The version is not supported. This does not support versions before Word/Excel 97 (e.g. Word 95), and does not yet support Office 2007.
• The person has used strong encryption (cryptographic service providers). There is no way that this can be recovered by anyone at this stage.
• You are trying to recover a read only password or worksheet protection password rather than a file open password. This software only manages file open passwords, which are the most common type. To recover other types of passwords, use one of the recommended tools.

Dictionaries

• The standard English dictionary is bundled with the software and is installed in the program directory (by default C:\Program Files\www.freewordexcelpassword.com\Free Word Excel Password Wizard\)
• If you want to purchase a password dictionary, we use and recommend this commercial list of 5.2 million passwords in 30 different languages which is available for only $15

Tips for recovering passwords

• Follow the instructions in the software
• Reduce recovery times by trying the simplest and fastest attacks first
• Try a dictionary recovery without any options checked first (this uses lower case words which are the most common passwords)
• Then try a dictionary recovery with the extra options enabled
• Then try brute force attacks with numbers and lower case characters first, before trying more complex brute force approaches
• If someone has used a very long or complex password, you will probably have to use a service such as Decryptum, which can decrypt the file in under a minute. This means that the password is not recovered, but you can open it without the password. The reason is that for very long passwords, the number of combinations means that it could take years to recover the actual password by trying all the possibilities.