UnSecure

UnSecure is a very lightweight and straightforward application whose main purpose is to reveal passwords for protected Microsoft Access database file, as well as for encrypted Excel worksheets.

Such an application turns out to be a valuable asset if you forgot the password to your Office projects, being able not only to unveil it, but to remove it altogether.

The developer specifies that the decryption can only be performed on MS-Access 95 / 97 files, with no mention whatsoever on the Excel compatibility. During our tests, it accepted database files created with newer versions of Access and Excel (2003 and 2007).

There’s no need for installation, since UnSecure is a portable application, facilitating easy access to its functionality, with just a double click on the EXE file included in the archive. You can place it on a USB drive and launch it on any computer, without affecting its registry settings.

UnSecure relies on an extremely minimalistic interface, basic to the point where it doesn’t even allow resizing. Populated with just a few buttons, the GUI allows you to select the document of interest and to reveal its password in a matter of a few seconds.

Once it is displayed, the password can be removed or replaced with a custom one if you don’t want to leave it unprotected.

On the downside, the decryption process is not as successful as we expected. If the password used for encrypting the document is simple, constituted only of letters or numbers, the application might just retrieve it correctly.

However, if it contains special characters, recovering the password will be a challenge. Moreover, if you remove the password completely, you’ll stand the risk of corrupting the source files, which happened to us in one of the endeavors.

As such, the best way to go about it is to avoid the password removal operation and stick with the retrieval attempt alone. The chances of that one succeeding are scarce too, but worth a try.