Hello FellowNewsgroupReaders,

To protect my work I add passwords to The various parts of my applications.
Looking around in the archives in search of the maximum lengths and
effective lengths there are various answers, possiblitities etc.
As a small example to the problem I encounter: a worksheet, protected in
Excel XP wit a passwordlength of 30 cannot be opened in Excel 2000. Only a
word of 15 (created in XP) will be accepted in 2000.

In the archives all kinds of different answers are whirring around, like a
password of 30 chars. need only 4 to be cracked etc.
I AM aware that one can crack passwords, no problem. I think of the
protection more as a safeguard.

So. I'm so bold to ask the universal and ultimate question -but now in
total- about passwords:

What is the maximum effective length of passwords for the following matrix?

97 2000 XP
Workbook

Workbook structure

Worksheet password

VBA Project


Regards,
Rob

If you "think of protection more as a safeguard", then you need a
password length of zero (just protect the worksheet/workbook and
don't enter a password). That will keep users from inadvertently
changing things.

For worksheet/workbook passwords, all password lengths are hashed to
a fixed-length, so running a macro to remove protection is faster
than trying even all one-character passwords. See

http://www.mcgimpsey.com/excel/removepwords.html

Various VBA project password crackers appear to work instantantly,
indicating that length is not relevant. In fact, a hex editor can
usually recover the bulk of your code, even if you have the project
protected, since the project isn't encrypted.

In article ,
"Rob" wrote:

Hello FellowNewsgroupReaders,

To protect my work I add passwords to The various parts of my applications.
Looking around in the archives in search of the maximum lengths and
effective lengths there are various answers, possiblitities etc.
As a small example to the problem I encounter: a worksheet, protected in
Excel XP wit a passwordlength of 30 cannot be opened in Excel 2000. Only a
word of 15 (created in XP) will be accepted in 2000.

In the archives all kinds of different answers are whirring around, like a
password of 30 chars. need only 4 to be cracked etc.
I AM aware that one can crack passwords, no problem. I think of the
protection more as a safeguard.

So. I'm so bold to ask the universal and ultimate question -but now in
total- about passwords:

What is the maximum effective length of passwords for the following matrix?

97 2000 XP
Workbook

Workbook structure

Worksheet password

VBA Project


Regards,
Rob

Hello J.E,

About my remark on the safeguard: I already knew that cracking is easy. It's
just that you can make it a bit more difficult for the very average user.
The link to your page is very helpful. I read that hacking the VBA pasword
(which is the most important for me, for all procedures are in there) is
more difficult. so if I want to make it -even for specialised programs- as
difficult and timeconsuming as possible, what will my ultimate passwodlength
for the VBA-editor be?

Regards,
Rob



"J.E. McGimpsey" schreef in bericht
...
If you "think of protection more as a safeguard", then you need a
password length of zero (just protect the worksheet/workbook and
don't enter a password). That will keep users from inadvertently
changing things.

For worksheet/workbook passwords, all password lengths are hashed to
a fixed-length, so running a macro to remove protection is faster
than trying even all one-character passwords. See

http://www.mcgimpsey.com/excel/removepwords.html

Various VBA project password crackers appear to work instantantly,
indicating that length is not relevant. In fact, a hex editor can
usually recover the bulk of your code, even if you have the project
protected, since the project isn't encrypted.

In article ,
"Rob" wrote:

Hello FellowNewsgroupReaders,

To protect my work I add passwords to The various parts of my
applications.
Looking around in the archives in search of the maximum lengths and
effective lengths there are various answers, possiblitities etc.
As a small example to the problem I encounter: a worksheet, protected in
Excel XP wit a passwordlength of 30 cannot be opened in Excel 2000. Only
a
word of 15 (created in XP) will be accepted in 2000.

In the archives all kinds of different answers are whirring around, like
a
password of 30 chars. need only 4 to be cracked etc.
I AM aware that one can crack passwords, no problem. I think of the
protection more as a safeguard.

So. I'm so bold to ask the universal and ultimate question -but now in
total- about passwords:

What is the maximum effective length of passwords for the following
matrix?

97 2000 XP
Workbook

Workbook structure

Worksheet password

VBA Project


Regards,
Rob

Hello J.E,

About my remark on the safeguard: I already knew that cracking is easy. It's
just that you can make it a bit more difficult for the very average user.
The link to your page is very helpful. I read that hacking the VBA pasword
(which is the most important for me, for all procedures are in there) is
more difficult. so if I want to make it -even for specialised programs- as
difficult and timeconsuming as possible, what will my ultimate passwodlength
for the VBA-editor be?

Regards,
Rob


"J.E. McGimpsey" schreef in bericht
...
If you "think of protection more as a safeguard", then you need a
password length of zero (just protect the worksheet/workbook and
don't enter a password). That will keep users from inadvertently
changing things.

For worksheet/workbook passwords, all password lengths are hashed to
a fixed-length, so running a macro to remove protection is faster
than trying even all one-character passwords. See

http://www.mcgimpsey.com/excel/removepwords.html

Various VBA project password crackers appear to work instantantly,
indicating that length is not relevant. In fact, a hex editor can
usually recover the bulk of your code, even if you have the project
protected, since the project isn't encrypted.

In article ,
"Rob" wrote:

Hello FellowNewsgroupReaders,

To protect my work I add passwords to The various parts of my
applications.
Looking around in the archives in search of the maximum lengths and
effective lengths there are various answers, possiblitities etc.
As a small example to the problem I encounter: a worksheet, protected in
Excel XP wit a passwordlength of 30 cannot be opened in Excel 2000. Only
a
word of 15 (created in XP) will be accepted in 2000.

In the archives all kinds of different answers are whirring around, like
a
password of 30 chars. need only 4 to be cracked etc.
I AM aware that one can crack passwords, no problem. I think of the
protection more as a safeguard.

So. I'm so bold to ask the universal and ultimate question -but now in
total- about passwords:

What is the maximum effective length of passwords for the following
matrix?

97 2000 XP
Workbook

Workbook structure

Worksheet password

VBA Project


Regards,
Rob