Most of us these days are aware of the fact that our electronic data is not safe. Anyone on the web with a little know-how could access our computer over the Internet and get into our files. To keep our electronic data safe it is important to remember to password protect your MS Office documents. Password protecting documents takes very little effort and will prevent important or sensitive files from falling into the wrong hands.

By placing a password on your important files you are ensuring that your documents are safe from those who would seek to exploit it, such as identity thieves. If you own a business you will want to do the same for your financial information as well as and documents that contain info about your clients. While you may not think it is important now, if the data should ever get stolen you will be thankful for it.

The important thing is that no matter what password you choose for your files, you need to keep track of it. Nothing is more irritating than trying to get into an important file and realizing that you forgot the password. Although writing down your passwords seem like a bad idea, if you are prone to forgetfulness it may be necessary. Above all you want to make sure that your passwords never fall into the wrong hands.

No matter how careful you are though, it is likely that at some point you will forget or lose a password for a file. Fortunately there are programs available to help you get back into your files. Password recovery tools in the form of a software program can systematically attempt to open the file using a wide variety of methods.

Initially the program will try to open your document using a combination of letters and number to see if it can guess the right password. This may work to gain entry into your files, but if you used a long or complicated password that includes a variety of characters and symbols it may not succeed.

Next the software will try different combinations of letters, numbers and symbols to get into the file. If your password was short and simple then it should have no problem getting in, but if you use long, complex passwords the software will need some time, and there is no guarantee that it will be able to find the right combination.

If your password is very complex there is a chance that the software will not be able crack your password. In this case you will need to take the last resort option and have the software disable your password protection entirely. While this is not the best option as it will leave your files vulnerable while you re-protect them, if you cant get into your files by other means and your files are important to you then it has to be done.

Once you have recovered your files, you may want to consider an alternate method keeping track of your passwords so you dont forget them. If you have a mobile or PDA and you can password protect it, then it may be a good place to keep keys to your important files. That way your passwords are at hand, but not linked to your computer.

The next time you are password protecting your documents, consider opening a secure document and saving your passwords in there, then make sure that the password you place on that document is 1) easy to remember and 2) complicated enough that a software recovery program couldn’t open it. Then you wont have to worry about lost passwords or unprotected files.

While the invention of the computer and digitized information has certainly made our lives easier, it has also presented certain challenges. For instance, what do you do to keep your data safe? Virtually anyone with an Internet connection is able to locate documents on another’s computer, so you should take the required steps to make sure that anything they can access has no value. This means that you need to protect any document containing sensitive information.

For starters, you will want to keep your entire computer safe from those who would try to get into it. If someone stole your PC or laptop, what would the consequences be? Besides having access to your personal information they could also obtain sensitive work documents or personal information about your clients.

Those who run an office should consider setting an office-wide procedure of protecting important information, as doing so will protect your company from liability should files or even a computer go missing or get stolen. Any clients you have will expect you to keep their information safe. In any MS Office 2007 program you can protect your document by doing the following:

On the top-left of your document click the Office Button Click Prepare option and then select Encrypt Document from the list Enter a password and Save

If you have an older version of MS Office you can usually access the same features this way:

With your document open, go to File | Save As At the top of the Save As screen select Tools | General Options You will be presented with a Save Options screen Enter a password to open / password to modify or both and click OK You will be prompted to re-enter your password(s), click OK when done Save the file

To make sure that you can always access your important files you may need to record your password somewhere safe, otherwise you may not be able to access a file when you need to.

As a second form of file protection you need to keep your files safe from computer issues. Imagine all of your most sacred files are lost due to a power outage or a problem with your hard drive. With a few clicks you can backup your files so that nothing should happen to them if your computer fails.

There are several different ways to back-up your files:

1) CD-ROM: Nearly every computer comes with a CD drive, so make use of it by copying your important files to CD-ROM every once and a while. You will have to remember to copy your files, and keep the CD in a secure place where no one can get a hold of it, preferably fireproof as well.

2) Flash Drive: for a few dollars you can pick up a flash drive that is big enough to keep a copy of any files you may need. Best of all a flash drive is portable and can go anywhere you go, or squirreled away safely where someone cant find it.

3) Online Storage: Storing your files online is safe and simple, with the added bonus that your files are available wherever you are in the world. For a small monthly fee you will have a folder set aside on a secure sever that only you can access.

If you have a computer and are connected to the Internet then your computer is at risk of having files stolen. While most of the files you have may be innocuous, if there is any personal information in them such as birthdays, social insurance numbers or financial data then you will want to make sure this information is protect from prying eyes. The easiest way to do this is to password protect your documents.

Adding a password to your files is something that is simple and easy to do, once you know where to look. For the best protection you will want a password that is at least 12 characters long and contains a combination of letter, numbers and symbols. This will ensure that a thief cannot easily gain access to your files.

Now that we have covered how to keep your documents safe, what happens if you lose or forget the passwords? Obviously you dont want to use the same password on every document ” if someone ever guessed the password then all of your files would be at risk. At the same time using a different password every time will make it difficult to remember. Odds are at some point in time you are going to lose a password and need to access your files.

No matter how careful you are though, it is likely that at some point you will forget or lose a password for a file. Fortunately there are programs available to help you get back into your files. Password recovery tools in the form of a software program can systematically attempt to open the file using a wide variety of methods.

There are many kinds of password recover programs, but most of them work in the same way. They will try to access the file by guessing the password. If your password is relatively strong it may take some time for the software to find the right combination of characters.

Next the software will try different combinations of letters, numbers and symbols to get into the file. If your password was short and simple then it should have no problem getting in, but if you use long, complex passwords the software will need some time, and there is no guarantee that it will be able to find the right combination.

If your password is very complex there is a chance that the software will not be able crack your password. In this case you will need to take the last resort option and have the software disable your password protection entirely. While this is not the best option as it will leave your files vulnerable while you re-protect them, if you cant get into your files by other means and your files are important to you then it has to be done.

While this type of software is a great tool to use when you forget your password, it should not replace whatever method you use to keep track of your passwords. Create a bomb-proof file with a long and complicated password to store the keys to your other files, and commit the password to this file to memory ” do not write it down, or if you do keep it in a safe place where no one will find it. Then you can rest knowing that all your files are safe and sound.

Password protecting your file can be a pain yes but think of the alternative. The next time you are password protecting your MS Office file which include: word, excel, outlook, powerpoint, etc you think if creating a separate secure password protected file to store all your passwords in. This way you can open your files all with the simple use of one password.