If your files are password protected, you may want to visit:
http://www.lostpassword.com/
It's a commercial recovery business.

If excel blows up on you when you open it, you may want to read Chip Pearson's
notes about start up errors:
http://www.cpearson.com/excel/StartupErrors.htm

dusiedu wrote:

excel keeps locking me out..again husband died...this is his computer...have
added xp in my name and am now locked out of excel.. It has records that I
need and cannot access. I have sent numerous messages to excel when it sends
a report and gotten absolutely no response.

--

Dave Peterson