Easiest, most glib answer is, because someone password protected it. *smirk

But really, it may have been password protected for a number of reasons. First of all is so that the common user is not able to look at the code and "steal" something that may be considered "proprietary" if the programmer felt that they had done work that is trusted and yet not to be disseminated. Another reason to password protect the code, is so that the very general user, is unable to change the code. At least two things are considered when able to change the code, one is that by PW protecting it, malicious code can not be easily inserted, the other is that if the lay user accidentally changes a line of code in the program than it could "break" the code, and make the program useless. (This is something I have run across when writing programs that are used by others.) It can be problematic, that if God forbid, an error occurs, the user may try to fix the problem say by removing the "offending" line. (I sure use a lot of quotes.

As for why some random file is password protected, well it the .xlt file is apparently a part of the program group that you have. I'm unfamiliar with what a .xlt file is, and don't recall using Excel 4.0, so not sure if .xlt files were part of Excel 4.0 or not. At any rate, basically if you have concerns about the content of the code, you will need to contact the person(s) that wrote it/are responsible for it, to find out what you are wanting. I know the government works in two ways, one trusting the work that others have done, and moving forward, and two having a questioning attitude like you have, to ensure that what you are using is correct and does not contain anything subversive

But like I said at the beginning, why is there a password on a file on your computer? Because the file was password protected then put on your computer. :)

Merry Christmas