UnSecure

UnSecure is a super lightweight and easy-to-use application designed to help you uncover passwords for protected Microsoft Access database files and encrypted Excel worksheets. If you've ever forgotten a password for your Office projects, this tool can really save the day by not just revealing it but also letting you remove it completely.

Password Recovery Made Easy

The developer notes that UnSecure works specifically on MS-Access 95 and 97 files. They didn’t mention anything about Excel compatibility, but during our tests, we found that it could handle database files created with newer versions like Access 2003 and 2007.

No Installation Needed!

One of the coolest things about UnSecure is that it’s a portable app. This means you don’t need to install it on your computer; just double-click the EXE file in the archive, and you're good to go! You can even throw it on a USB drive and use it on any computer without messing with its registry settings.

User-Friendly Interface

The interface is extremely minimalistic—so much so that you can't even resize it! It has only a few buttons, making it really straightforward. You simply pick the document you want to work on, and within seconds, you'll see the password pop up.

Password Management Options

Once you've got the password displayed, you have options: you can either remove it or change it to something new if you'd like to keep your file protected.

Caution: Some Limitations

However, there are some downsides. The decryption process doesn’t always work as well as we hoped. If your password is simple—just letters or numbers—there's a good chance UnSecure will find it easily. But if special characters are involved, recovering the password can be tricky.

A Word of Advice

If you decide to remove the password entirely, be careful! You risk corrupting your original files; we ran into this issue ourselves once when testing. So it's probably best to focus on just trying to retrieve the password instead of removing it altogether. The odds of success might be slim, but it's worth giving it a shot!