Archiving your files is a great way of storing important data; not only do you get to save a bit of space, but you can also protect your files by encrypting your archive with a password. However, passwords can be forgotten or lost, especially when you don’t remember where you wrote them down. In this case, you should start looking for password decrypting software. If you files are compressed in the ZIP format, then Passper for ZIP might interest you.

As its name suggests, Passper for ZIP only works for ZIP files, but it can also take on the 7z format. However, if your archives are RAR files, then you should look for another program.

Passper for ZIP has a minimalistic and extremely intuitive interface. First, you must add the file that needs its password decryption. Then, you should select one of four methods of attack. If you have any clue about the password’s content, then you should probably go with Mask Attack. This method allows you to give the program clues, such as password length, types of character that aren’t included in the code, prefix and suffix.

Another interesting method is the Combination Attack, which allows you to select only certain characters for the program to use in its attempt at cracking the code. Then there’s the Dictionary Attack, which will recover the password by trying to match various words from a dictionary. Finally, there’s the Brute Force Attack, which will try all possible combination to decrypt the code, but will take longer than the others.

Even though it does its job, the application is nothing out of the ordinary. It’s important to be able to recover your ZIP passwords, but Passper for ZIP probably won’t be your first choice, since there are also many free tools that can do the same thing.