ZIP Password Cracker Pro ------------------------

Copyright (C) Moose O'Malley, January 2011.

+===========================================================+ | T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S | +===========================================================+ | * Introduction | * Why I wrote this program ? What can it do ? | * Benchmark Results | * Using this Program | * Uninstalling this Program | * The Future | * Reviews / Awards / CDs | * Freeware Information | * Warranty | * Amendment History | * Contacting the Program's Author +===========================================================+ Introduction : -------------ZIP Password Cracker Pro for Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, etc. This program is free software. Anyone - any person, any company, or any business - can use this program for free. No fees or payment is required. See "Freeware Information" below. ZIP Password Cracker Pro enables you to generate passwords and apply these to password protected ZIP files. This can be an incredibly useful thing to do when you have backed up data to a ZIP file and mistyped or forgotten the password. This program saves Restart information as it tests passwords (every 10,000 passwords, or whenever the program is closed), so that if your computer crashes, or there is a power failure, or if you switch your computer off, then this program can continue where it left off next time you run it when you press the "Continue ZIP Testing" button. This program currently supports ZIP files only - it will not work with RAR, ACE, or other compressed archive types. Developed using 32-bit Delphi. This program will **NOT** run under Windows 3.x (even with Win32 installed) !! Why I wrote this program ? What can it do ? -------------------------------------------In early 1998, I backed up loads of data to a ZIP file, but when I went to restore some files from the backup

months later (in August 1998), I realised that I had mistyped my password and that my data was locked up tighter than a duck's arsehole. ;) I needed help to recover my password so that I could retrieve the files I needed. So, as I usually do, I sat down and wrote this program. I use very long passwords for all of my ZIP files - 15 characters or longer - and I use numbers, letters, and other characters. Now, the problem was that taking these characters and generating random passwords of this size would generate trillions of trillions of passwords. Pretty soon I realised that it was going to take 1,000's of centuries on my poor old Pentium 100 to crack my ZIP file's password by Brute Force methods. So, I realised that for my particular ZIP file, I needed something a lot better and a lot more focused than Brute Force methods. So, then I added the "Password is Partly Known" tab so that I could enter the characters I thought I had used in my ZIP file's password. This functionality then generated passwords by simulating the hitting of keys around the keys used to type the password I thought I had typed. This resulted in far fewer passwords being generated and tested / trialed. Then, I left my program running over night trying these "Partly Known Passwords" against my password protected ZIP file, and by morning it had worked out my mistyped password, and I could retrieve data from my ZIP file. So, ZIP Password Cracker Pro will not be useful to anyone wanting to crack any reasonably protected ZIP files. e.g. where passwords are 10 characters or more long. But, this means that ZIP Password Cracker Pro is still ideal for use in the following ways : - use the "Password is Partly Known" functionality to crack short or long passwords when you have a reasonably good idea what the password is. or - use "Brute Force Password Cracking" functionality to crack shorter passwords when you have no idea what the password is. Benchmark Results : --------------------

Below are some benchmark results : - the number of passwords generated per second, and, - the number of passwords tested against a small password protected test ZIP file per second for various computers that I have run Zip Cracker Pro on. Password Generation Benchmarks ********************************************** Computer ********************************************** Pentium III 700 (256 MB RAM, Windows XP Pro) Pentium 4 1.8 GHz (512 MB RAM, Windows XP Pro) ********************************************** (N.B. Uses Registered versions of the program Password Testing Benchmarks ********************************************** Computer ********************************************** Pentium III 700 (256 MB RAM, Windows XP Pro) Pentium 4 1.8 GHz (512 MB RAM, Windows XP Pro) ********************************************** (N.B. Uses Registered versions of the program **************** Passwords/Second **************** 3,100 4,770 **************** - which is a lot faster) **************** Passwords/Second **************** 350 to 500 1,100 to 1,300 **************** - which is a lot faster)

As time goes by, and I buy more powerful computers, or if people email me and let me know the benchmark results for their computers, then I'll add more details to the above benchmark results. Using this Program : -------------------To use this program, unzip the contents of the ZIP file to a directory - such as c:\zip_crack\ - and run the executable file : Zip_Cracker.EXE. You then need to decide which method you want to use : - Brute Force Password Cracking This is most useful when you know nothing about the password for the ZIP file. Simply select uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, etc and specify the length of passwords to generate, and then press the "Generate Passwords" passwords button. - Password is Partly Known This is most useful when you do know somethin about the password for the ZIP file. Simply type in the letters / numbers / etc you think are in the required password, select the required options (Double hit each key, etc) and then press the "Generate Passwords" passwords button. When the passwords are generated (according to your settings), then the list of passwords will be displayed, and you will be able to specify the ZIP file to test, and then test each password against the ZIP file.

In addition, you will see the estimated time to test all passwords in the list, which is based on your PC's performance during previous ZIP file tests. This program saves Restart information as it tests passwords, so that if your computer crashes, or there is a power failure, or you switch your computer off, then this program will continue where it left off next time you run it when you press the "Continue ZIP Testing" button. This means that if your computer has been running for 3 days testing 1,000's of passwords, and it crashes or the power fails, then you do not need to start at the very beginning again. I hope you find the program easy to use and useful. Uninstalling this Program : --------------------------At the present time, there is No Uninstall function. If you ever want to delete ZIP Password Cracker Pro from your computer, then : 1. Exit the program, and delete it from wherever you installed it on your harddrive. Simple as that ! The Future : -----------I've got tons of ideas for this program. But, ofcourse, I will be very cautious in what features I add because I don't want to do anything to help any hackers / crackers out there gain access to any unauthorised data. e.g. data inside password protected ZIP files. Indeed, many ZIP files on my WEB site are protected - such as Talking Clock's speech packs - and only registered users get the passwords to access these files. So, I am very careful not to provide any functionality to allow internet based hackers / crackers to rip off any more of my work. (These bastards do enough of this already !!) In the future, many improvements could be made to this program, such as : - Better password generation methods. e.g. when you know the first part of the password is "fred" and/or the last part of the password is "15".

- Support for other compressed archive types. e.g. RAR, ACE, etc. At the moment, this program only supports ZIP files. - Support for using pre-built lists of words, with the ability to build these into extended lists - with numeric prefixes, etc appended to each word in the list. - Faster performance in generating passwords. (Especially when you are generating many 10's of 1,000's of passwords). (See "Benchmark Results" above). - Faster performance in checking passwords. (See "Benchmark Results" above). - Display more statistics while the passwords are being generated. e.g. Password 337 / 80,000, estimated time until all passwords are generated, etc. - Display more statistics while the passwords are being tested against the ZIP file. e.g. estimated time until all passwords are tested, etc. - Anything else ? If you would like any of these improvements, or would like to suggest more, please email me and let me know. How much more work I do on this program depends entirely on what support I get, how many people use the program, how many people have registered, etc. Reviews / Awards / CDs : ------------------------None so far. Freeware Information : ----------------------This is free software. Anyone - any person, any company, or any business - can use this program for free. No fees or payment is required. However, if you find the program useful, then please consider making a PayPal donation to support my efforts. (To make a donation, please run the program and select the "About" option under the Help menu, and then click the PayPal link on the "About" screen). Warranty : ---------This software and the accompanying files are provided "as is" and without warranties as to performance or merchantability or any

other warranties whether expressed or implied. The user assumes the entire risk of using this software. If you do find any faults with this program, email me and let me know. Amendment History : ------------------Vers Date Description First Public Release. (29,649 lines of code / comments.) Check file has an extension of 'ZIP' before proceeding with the testing. Verify the ZIP file is a valid ZIP file before doing any sybsequent processing or testing. Enormously speed up password generation and password testing for Registered Users of this program by : 1. Updating the stats every 100 passwords - not every password as this slow things down significantly. 2. Dynamically loading DLLs prior to processing. 3. Various other techniques and tricks. Registered users can test passwords 5-20 times or so faster than Un-Registered users (depends on PC). Change the font to a scalable font for all items. (Fix the autosize-text truncation). Use colours to reflect the status of editboxes : grey = read only, white = user input, etc. Add in support for the dragging and droping of ZIP file(s) from Windows Explorer. Add "Benchmark Results" section to this text file. Add buttons to enable the user to reset password list, and copy list to Windows clipoard, and paste password list from Windows clipoard. (Registered Users only). Add in the ability to continue password checking against a ZIP file, if a correct password has already been found but this password does not work on all files inside the ZIP file. (Yes, some ZIP files are encrypted with multiple passwords). Add in support for notification, testing, and advice regarding unencrypted files (i.e. those with blank passwords). Add in a pre-ZIP testing advice screen (with a "Do Not Show This Again" option). Use a better initial default window size. Various other use-ability enhancements. (37,772 lines of code / comments.) Bring the program up to date with my latest code libraries. (43,009 lines of code / comments.) Add File Menu options to enable the user to create or delete shortcuts to this program on the Desktop, StartMenu, SendTo, etc and you can do this *ANY* time - not just when the program i

1.0 22-May-2002 1.1 12-Nov-2002

1.1b 20-Nov-2002 1.2 4-Dec-2002

s being installed. (All Windows programs should provide this functionality). You can now right-mouse click on a ZIP file and send it to this program directly - provided there is a shortcut to the program in the SendTo menu. (See above). Insert the characters around each key for some keys that were missing these for the "Password is Partly Known" password generations. e.g. The keys around the "." key are ",<L;:'"/?". (Thanks to Robert F for reporting this to me earlier today). (55,759 lines of code / comments.) 1.2f 3-Sep-2007 1.2fb 13-Jan-2011 er Pro. my program wasn't finding ZIP passwords properly. It turned ou t it wasn't, because the DLL (UnzDll.dll) included with ZIP Passw ord Cracker Pro was not the required version. If this program was not downloaded from my Home Page, then it is possibly an old version. The latest version of this program is available from my WEB page - see below. Moose O'Malley ____________________________________________________ Moose's Software Valley - Established July, 1996. WEB: http://move.to/moose ____________________________________________________ This program is now FREEWARE - see "Freeware Information" above. Update the DLL (UnzDll.dll) included with ZIP Password Crack Special thanks to Lost Identity for alerting me to the fact