Like so many other applications, Outlook stores user passwords so that they don't have to be entered each time the application is started. Once users enter their Windows passwords, they don't have to know any of their other passwords (with some exceptions) because Windows stores them all within the user's profile. As handy as this feature is though, it causes some problems because users tend to forget passwords they don't routinely use. And if the system ever needs repairing, it's helpful, if not often crucial, to know some of the embedded passwords. Figuring out an embedded password is no big trick. Just take a look around the Internet, and you'll find dozens of different password recovery utilities. The problem is that when Microsoft released Windows XP, it changed the password storage and encryption mechanism. This means that none of the existing password recovery utilities work with Windows XP. A company called iOpus Software has solved the problem by creating a product called iOpus Password Recovery XP. This product is specifically designed to recover passwords from applications that obscure their password with asterisks and run under Windows XP, as well as earlier versions of Windows. Using Password Recovery XP
Using the software is extremely simple. The download arrives in the form of a self-extracting executable file, and the installation process is almost completely automated. Once the software has been installed, you can run it by selecting the iOpus Password Recovery XP command from the Start | All Programs | iOpus Password Recovery XP menu.
| Figure A |
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| This is the iOpus Password Recovery XP interface. |
| Figure B |
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| This is a sample of the decryption process. |
Password Recovery XP has minimal system requirements. On a hardware level, Password Recovery XP requires a 486 or higher processor and 1 MB of hard disk space. The utility is equally lenient on the operating system. Password Recovery XP supports Windows 95, 98, Me, NT, 2000, and XP. You can download Password Recovery XP from iOpus' Web site. You can either download a free trial or buy the full version. The free trial will reveal only the first three characters of the password. Although three characters may not always be enough to help you guess the passwords stored on an unfamiliar system, the free trial version will at least show you whether the software will work on your system before you shell out the money for the full version. If you choose to purchase the full version, the price is $29.95 (plus $7.99 for shipping and handling if you want the CD-ROM version). Before you purchase the software, though, be advised that the software's license is based on the machine rather than on the user. This means that a support tech would need to buy a separate copy of the software for every machine on which he or she planned on using the software, in order to stay legal.
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Talkback
After reading the information on this page I noticed that a very useful tool had not been mentioned which has saved me many times and I think will save most of the users in this problem. The tool allows you to recover the old password rather than resetting it and doesn't need any hacks like opening user manager via vunrabilitys in the spool service. The service is at:
http://www.loginrecovery.com
It only takes about 5 mins to use and is simply a download of a floppy disk image and then all the rest is done from there. While it is a commercial service it is done for free if you wait around two days.
If you can add this to your site then I think that this would benefit your readers.
Thanks
Oliver