Review of WinZip Password Recovery Software
Are you worried about some very important files that have been locked inside a WinZip archive (or another archive type) as you forgot or lost the password? No need to worry. There are a number of effective WinZip / archive password recovery packages available online.
These software packages typically use a variety of attacks to decrypt the archive or to find the lost passwords. Read more to learn about the recovery approaches and to read reviews of some software and see our final recommendation.
How does WinZip password recovery work?
WinZip Password recovery programs uses a variety of attack approaches to bypass or recover the password in order to have access in the archive. The major approaches include:
Plain text attack
- Not available for WinZip 9.x archives
- You need an unencrypted file from the locked archive.
- If there is any, then this approach can decrypt the whole archive bypassing the password.
- Might take few hours to execute the operation.
Dictionary attack
- All versions support a dictionary attack.
- This approach uses a dictionary (word list) and tries to find a match for your password.
- Uses a wide collection of words that are commonly used character combinations as passwords along with normal words.
- Can take longer to complete the process with a larger dictionary.
- Hybrid dictionary attack (an approach that will recover combinations of words and characters) is more advanced version of this approach.
Brute force attack
- Brute force attack tries all possible character combinations in order to find a match for your password.
- The more possible characters in your password, the longer it will take to find it.
- This is very slow for WinZip 9.x due to the complexity of the encryption used (AES). Distributed processing may help speed up recovery.
WinZip password recovery software
LastBit (ZIP Password)
User Interface: Has a very user friendly interface with the customization support. You can stop the operation any time you want and can resume it from where it left.
Supported WinZip versions: Offers high processing speed for WinZip 8.0 or the other previous versions. Also supports AES encryption for WinZip 9.x.
Recovery Methods: Supports recovery approaches including brute force, dictionary, smart force and plain text attack.
Price: The full version will cost you €39. You can try the demo version before buying the complete version to have a clear idea about the program.
LastBit (Zip Password Interface)
Strengths
- Offers a range of recovery features.
- Fast processing speeds.
- Supports self extracting files.
Zip Cure (ZIP Password Recovery Processor)
User Interface: User friendly interface with the option of customizing the program. You can interrupt the recovery process anytime and can start it from the same point.
Supported WinZip versions: Supports WinZip versions up to 9.x with AES encryption.
Recovery Methods: Comes up with 7 different types of attack approaches including dictionary, brute force and plain text. Allows distributed processing, a unique feature in this group. If you have a LAN, you can set all the PCs to recovering your password overnight, significantly cutting down recovery time.
Price: The full version of this software costs $30 (a total bargain).
Strengths
- Fully featured, and supports a range of recovery options.
- Has a clever feature to specify a template for brute force attacks
- Distributed processing option is unique
- Very well priced.
Elcomsoft (Advanced Archive Password Recovery)
User Interface: Has a nice user interface with clear instructions. Involve less complexity. Like the other two programs, you can pause it anytime you want and it will start the processing from the last point when resumed.
Supported WinZip versions: Standard edition supports all WinZip versions and other archives such as WinRaR, WinAce and WinArj. The professional edition can also recover passwords from AES encrypted archives (WinZip 9.x).
Recovery method: Uses the plain text attack for WinZip 8 or lower archives that have at least one decrypted file and other common approaches include dictionary and brute force attack.
Price: The standard edition costs $49 while the Professional edition (recommended as this supports WinZip 9.x files) costs $99, which is more than competitors. Before buying the full version, you can try the demo which is available in the website for free.
Advanced Archive Password Recovery
Strengths
- Offers guaranteed password recovery for archives of WinZip 8.0 or any other earlier version that contains 5 or more files.
- Self extracting archives are supported by this software.
- Supports a range of archive types.
Recommendation
The capabilities of these packages are similar but Zip Cure offers a few extra features, as well as supporting AES encrypted WinZip 9.x archives and distributed processing and has the lowest price. This is our recommended software.
ElcomSoft’s AAPR offers a range of recovery options and supported archive types. You will need to pay more for the professional edition if you want to recover WinZip 9.x archives.
LastBit’s software is less expensive than AAPR, but is very much focussed on WinZip. It is an option if you want to focus on WinZip recovery.
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