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How to Remove Excel Workbook Password for Free

July 3rd, 2012 by Admin

How many times have you forgotten password of a Microsoft Excel workbook/sheet and then had a sinking face?

Microsoft Excel has a protection feature that allows users to lock a workbook or sheet with a password. When the Excel workbook/sheet is protected with a password, any user attempt to edit data shows an error message as follow.

Here comes an handy Excel plug-in called Excel Password Remover utility which can remove the password protection from Excel workbooks and spreadsheets. You can install the plug in by downloading it from here. Once installed, it adds options Unprotect workbook and Unprotect sheet to Excel’s Tools menu, and choosing these options does what they are meant to.

Download Excel Password Remover

Note:

To install the plugin you should set security level of Macros to medium by following the menu Tools->Macros->Security in Microsoft Excel.

Excel Password Remover can’t be used to remove password set to open a spreadsheet. If you are unable to open the file because it asks you for a password, this program won’t help you. Then you need to get this Excel Password Recovery program to crack the file open password.

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Password Protect Your USB Flash Drive with Bitlocker

June 26th, 2012 by Admin

Data security on USB flash drives is a growing concern. USB flash drives, with the size no more than a pack of chewing gums, is always prone to theft or loss. Hence the security of data through USB data encryption is highly important.

There are many USB data encryption tools available, some are free and some are paid. However, did you know that starting from Windows Vista, Microsoft has added a free data encryption tool within the operating system. It is known as Bitlocker. In Windows Vista, it was only available for Business and Ultimate editions.

Bitlocker in Windows Vista was able to encrypt only the hard disks. But in Windows 7, Microsoft has extended the data encryption facility to USB flash drives also and rightly so, the encryption utility has been renamed as BitLocker To Go.

To use Microsoft BitLock to password protect your USB flash drive, please follow the steps below:

1. Right click on your USB flash drive.

2. Click on Turn on BitLocker….

3. Now the BitLocker feature starts encrypt the USB flash drive and its content.

4. Now we will be prompted to set a password or smart card protection for our USB flash drive.

5. Here you need to enter your password which need to to unlock the USB flash drive to continue. After enabling BitLocker feature you need this password to access data stored in the flash drive.

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Posted in Free Software, Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista

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How to Password Protect Your Running Programs

June 13th, 2012 by Admin

You might have faced a situation where you have to leave your work in front of somebody and move away from them. You only have the choice to leave the system and can’t logoff Windows. Think of such a situation. Yes it can happen some times. So how can we protect your running programs from being seen by somebody else?

Here’s where LockThis! comes into your rescue. LockThis! is a tiny Windows utility that makes it possible to password protect almost any programs or documents that’s currently running/open. This tool is perfect for people who often lend their PC to others, because with this tool they can keep the content of some programs or documents from other people eyes without need to close them first. Huge time saver if you really often lend your PC.

It’s very easy to apply the protection. Mostly it only involves pressing keyboard Ctrl button when minimizing the window of the program/document and supply the password in the dialog that follows (or you might had chosen to use a predefined common password, which in this case you won’t be asked for password). Now the content is save because the window can not be restored or maximized without supplying correct password. Whenever the window is about to restore or maximize a dialog asking for password will pop up. If the correct password is not supplied, the restore or maximize request will be ignored and the window stays minimized.

Pros: A great freeware app that assure you more privacy and you can safely give your laptop with opened windows to any body without the fear of them seeing it.

Cons: LockThis doesn’t work with Internet Explorer 8/9, it can’t be used to protect 64-bit applications , so if you want to hide the open windows contents from them, think of it before giving your laptop or pc to any body else.

Download LockThis!

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3 Best Free Password Managers

June 12th, 2012 by Admin

Most of us end up having so many different passwords for different websites, that sometimes it becomes really hard to remember them. Writing them anywhere would defeat the whole purpose of having a password. A very simple solution is a Password Manager. Password Manager is a software that securely stores all your passwords, and you are provided with one master password to access all your passwords. This means that you need to remember just one password.

We have reviewed many free password managers. Here is a list of the best 3 free password managers that we have come across. All of these are extremely easy to use, very secure, and completely free. Some have more features than others. So, go through the list, and see which one fits your needs.

Note:  Almost all available password manger utilities use some kinds of irreversible encryption algorithms to secure your password. So if you forgot the password to log in to your password manager software, it’s unable to recover all logins and passwords saved by the application. But you can still give a try with Password Recovery Bundle, it can help you reset forgotten Windows login password, unlock MS Office / PDF document, recover passwords from email clients and instant messengers, etc.

1. KeePass

KeppPass Password Manager is my favorite Password Manager. It is extremely secure, and uses advanced algorithms for encrypting your information. Apart from passwords, it stores website URL, login name, and password. So, if you want to open a website, and add login information to that, just double click on that in KeePass Safe, and it will take care of that for you. This makes it extremely useful. Apart from that, you can carry it in your Flash drive so you can use it on any system. It works on almost all OS, including, Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and FreeBSD.

2. iPassMan

iPassMan is another useful password manager. It works a lot like KeePass. You can store name of website, and the corresponding login information. You can also add some notes for your login information. To run a website, you can directly click on it in iPassMan, and it will open the website for you, and also fill in the login information. It works only on Windows.

3. MyPadlock

MyPadlock Password Manager is a secure and simple password manager that allows the user to keep all the password under “lock and key” on their PC and is only accessible if they know a master password that is created by the user on initial configuration. This master password will be the only password which needs to be created.

MyPadlock has using 128-bit AES encryption to encrypt all the password into an encrypted file and keep into hard drive. The file is also encrypted with password and will automatically logged off in a few minutes to ensure that the users don’t leave the password open to anyone while they were away from their desk.

So which password manager is right for you? Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide what features you want. If these free password manager utilities can’t meet your needs, you can also consider purchasing commercial software such as LastPass, RoboForm, 1Password, etc.

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How to Recover Windows 7 Password Using Ophcrack

June 4th, 2012 by Admin

Forgot Windows 7 password and can’t log on to your local account on the laptop or desktop? I believe that you’ve faced this issue several times. There are tons of free tools which can be used to recover Windows 7 password. One of the most popular software is Ophcrack, which can run from a CD or USB drive and enable you to recover Windows 7 password without reinstalling.

Note:  Ophcrack is only intended for computer geek, not ordinary, nontechnical folk. For average computer users, the most efficient and easiest way is to use Reset Windows Password utility.

Ophcrack is a free (open source) Windows password cracker/recovery tool based on rainbow tables. It is a very efficient implementation of rainbow tables done by the inventors of the method. It comes with a Graphical User Interface and could be used to recover Windows 7/Vista/XP password.

How to Recover Windows 7 Password Using Ophcrack?

  1. Download the Ophcrack from the official website. When you go to Ophcrack download page you will notice there are LiveCD ISO’s for Windows 7 and Windows XP. Based on the operating system of your locked computer download the ISO for that operating system (Windows 7 or XP). It won’t hurt to download both because you never know when you might need them.
  2. Burn the ISO image on to a CD. It will create a bootable CD for you. I use BurnCDCC for this. You can use anything you like.
  3. Now put the CD into the CD-ROM and make sure you set CD/DVD as the first boot device inside the computer BIOS.
  4. When it boots from the CD, you will see the list of the accounts on the computer.
  5. The machine will do its thing and just leave it. After a while, you will see password has been recovered and displayed on the screen beside the accounts those are not password-protected.
  6. After you see it – remember it just reboot the machine and you should be able to log on to Windows 7 system.

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Posted in Free Software, Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 7

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Recover Your Lost Wireless Network Key with WirelessKeyView

May 26th, 2012 by Admin

WirelessKeyView is a portable free network utility by NirSoft that recovers your wireless network security key/passwords stored in your computer. The latest version adds a feature that allows you to export these keys into a simple text file and then later on import them into another computer.

Because it’s a portable tool you can just download it from the link below and launch it without first installing it. It supports on both 32bit and 64bit of Windows, so make sure you know which edition of windows you are using and pick one that matches.

Select the keys you want to export, and Export Select Items from File menu. It’s worth noting that the keys exported in the text file are not encrypted. So make sure to keep the file in the safe place if you are concern about the security of your network.

If you find the keys that are obsolete from the network adapter that are no longer existed, you can even delete the keys from the tool directly. The key deleted from the tool will also be removed from your computer. Note that only the keys from the inactive network adapter can be deleted.

WirelessKeyView works perfectly in XP and Vista but has a bit of difficulty working flawlessly in Windows 7 due to the new encryption and hashing algorithms used by the Windows Data Protection system. The author has to make a workaround but claims that he will still keep the research and development going. However, I test its 64bit version of this tool on my Windows 7 64-bit system and it has no problem revealing all my wireless network keys I ever inputted.

As always, WirelessKeyView has a list of command-line options and can be executed in Command Prompt window or be a scheduled command.

Download WirelessKeyView

Download WirelessKeyView for x64

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How to Hack Windows Password with Free Linux Live CD

May 20th, 2012 by Admin

Forgetting Windows password means losing access to important files and settings on your computer. A password hint can provide clues to help you recall your password. But in most situations, we can’t recognize the importance of password hint and leave it as blank when set a new password. How to hack or recover Windows password so you can regain access to your computer?

In this tutorial we’ll show you how to hack Windows password with a Linux live CD – Ophcrack, which is a freeware that can crack Windows password so you can login without making any changes to your computer.

Step 1: Download Ophcrack and Create A Linux Live CD

The first thing we will need to do is download the CD image from Ophcrack’s website. There are two options to download: XP or Vista. So make sure you grab the right one. The Vista download works with Windows Vista or Windows 7, and the only difference between XP and Vista is the “tables” Ophcrack uses to hack the password.

Once the .iso file is downloaded, burn it to a CD using any CD/DVD burning software you like, such as BurnCDCC or ImgBurn. If you are going to be cracking your password on a computer that doesn’t have a CD drive, such as a netbook, you can also burn the ISO image to a USB flash drive using Universal USB Creator.

Step 2: Hack Windows Password

Boot the computer from the Linux Live CD that you created.  On some computers you may have to go into the BIOS settings to change the boot order or push a key to show the boot menu.

Once the disk is done booting, Ophcrack should start automatically and will begin hacking the passwords for all of the users on your computer.

If you have a complex password it will take a lot longer than simple passwords, and with the free tables your password may never be cracked. Once the hack is done you will see the password in plain text, write it down and reboot the machine to login. If your password isn’t hacked, you can also log in as one of the other users with admin rights and then change your password from within Windows.

With the free tables available you will not be able to hack every password, but the paid tables range from $100 to $1000 so you may be better off just resetting your password with Reset Windows Password utility.

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Posted in Free Software, Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista, Windows XP

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How to Remove / Recover MS Excel Password

March 29th, 2012 by Admin

Can’t open password-protected Excel files? How many times has happened that you set a password on an Excel spreadsheet or workbook and then you forget about it? or worst, the person that set up the password on the spreadsheet no longer works with you, and you have a spreadsheet that can’t modify. what do you do? easy, use Excel Password Remover.

Note: Excel Password Remover can’t be used to remove password set to open a spreadsheet. If you are unable to open the file because it asks you for a password, this program won’t help you. Then you need to get our Excel Password Recovery program to crack the file open password.

Excel Password Remover is a program to remove the password to be able to modify an existing password protected workbook or spreadsheet, with that in mind let’s proceed on how to use it.

Download Excel password remover from this link. Unzip the download file, there are two files: password.xla and password_2007_2010.xlam. password.xla is designed to remove MS Excel 97/2000/XP/2003 passwords while password_2007_2010.xlam is for removing Excel 2007/2010 passwords.

Here we’ll show you how to remove MS Excel XP password. Open your password-protected sheet or workbook. After the password-protected sheet is open, click to open the password.xla add-in, you should get a warning like this:

If you get a different message, probably you need to lower your security settings on your Excel. If your current settings are high, set them to medium.

After you click on Enable Macros, you will get a pop-up saying the macro is loaded:

After you get the pop-up, on Excel go to Tools, and click on Unprotect workbook and Unprotect sheet.

You should get a pop-up window when your spreadsheet has been unprotected:

That’s it, your Excel workbook or spreadsheet should be now unprotected.

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How to Recover Accidentally Deleted Files

March 23rd, 2012 by Admin

Something that most of us will do in our computing lives is accidentally deleting files. Sometimes people will empty the recycle bin without checking its contents, press SHIFT+DELETE on a file or folder (which deletes it without going to the recycle bin) or delete a file or folder from the command line. All of these operations will make the file or folder disappear in Windows and is seemingly lost forever. Luckily for us nothing is ever really deleted on your computer unless something else takes place on the hard drive; Chances are that your files are recoverable.

Today we look at Restoration, a free tool that helps you restore accidentally deleted files. It is effective at recovering deleted files and it doesn’t require any sort of installation so you can store it on a USB drive if you like. Click here to download a copy of Restoration.

How to Recover Accidentally Deleted Files

1) To use Restoration, simply choose the Hard Drive which your deleted file was originally on from the drop-down list in the upper right. For example, I want to recover the file F:\test.txt that I just deleted by press SHIFT+DELETE, so I will choose F: drive.

2) Click the Search Deleted File button, the program will scan the target hard drive for deleted files.

3) When the scanning procedure is complete, it will show a list of files that are recoverable.

4) Click the Restore By Copying button to restore the files. Be sure to restore them to another partition or drive to avoid the risk of overwriting the original information you are trying to recover.

This method solves all file loss problems – recovering files emptied from Recycle Bin, formatted hard drive or lost partition and other unknown reasons under Windows 2000 / XP / 2003 / Vista / 2008 / 7.

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