reading encrypted files

HI
I saved some word files to a floppy disk which were encrypted when i was
using windows millenium edition.Should i have decrypted them before saving
them to floppy disk? I now have windows xp and cannot read the files. I have
tried to decrypt them with no sucess. I have been told that i have lost the
files forever. Is there any way of retrieving them as they had important
information on them?
any help grateful.
thanks

Q. "Should I have decrypted them before saving them to floppy disk?"

A. Yes.

Q. "I have been told that I have lost the files forever."

A. Unfortunately, that is correct if you did not save the encryption key
on a floppy disk.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User
Microsoft Newsgroups

Be Smart! Protect Your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/secu...t/default.mspx

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"footballer" wrote:

| HI
| I saved some word files to a floppy disk which were encrypted when i was
| using windows millenium edition.Should i have decrypted them before saving
| them to floppy disk? I now have windows xp and cannot read the files. I have
| tried to decrypt them with no sucess. I have been told that i have lost the
| files forever. Is there any way of retrieving them as they had important
| information on them?
| any help grateful.
| thanks

On Tue, 8 Mar 2005 06:57:03 -0800, "footballer"
wrote:

HI
I saved some word files to a floppy disk which were encrypted when i was
using windows millenium edition.Should i have decrypted them before saving
them to floppy disk? I now have windows xp and cannot read the files. I have
tried to decrypt them with no sucess. I have been told that i have lost the
files forever. Is there any way of retrieving them as they had important
information on them?
any help grateful.
thanks

Since Windows ME does not have a method of encryption built in as does
XP Pro (using NTFS), what did you use to encrypt the Word files?
Whatever program or method you used to encrypt, you will have to
likewise use to decrypt. Otherwise, what you've been told is
correct; the files are lost.

Hi cs
Thanks for the reply
When using word to create a word document,as i remember the drop down menu
had open, edit, new ect then it had encrypt. this i clicked on and typed in a
password. to read the file later i had to type in the pasword. does that
make sense?
Thanks

"CS" wrote:

On Tue, 8 Mar 2005 06:57:03 -0800, "footballer"
wrote:

HI
I saved some word files to a floppy disk which were encrypted when i was
using windows millenium edition.Should i have decrypted them before saving
them to floppy disk? I now have windows xp and cannot read the files. I have
tried to decrypt them with no sucess. I have been told that i have lost the
files forever. Is there any way of retrieving them as they had important
information on them?
any help grateful.
thanks

Since Windows ME does not have a method of encryption built in as does
XP Pro (using NTFS), what did you use to encrypt the Word files?
Whatever program or method you used to encrypt, you will have to
likewise use to decrypt. Otherwise, what you've been told is
correct; the files are lost.

On Tue, 8 Mar 2005 13:39:02 -0800, "footballer"
wrote:

Hi Footballer:

What you did was password protect the documents, not encrypt them.
It's the password itself that actually gets encrypted or "scrambled",
hence, can not be read by a text editor, etc. You need to supply the
correct password in order to open the Word documents that you
protected. However:

You're probably being prevented from accessing the files because of
ownership. Try taking ownership of the files first. Once you've
taken ownership you should be able to access the files. Then supply
the password you assigned and the files will open. Please see the
following article by MS:

http://support.microsoft.com/default...308421&sd=tech

This will show you how to take ownership of a file or folder.

Hi cs
Thanks for the reply
When using word to create a word document,as i remember the drop down menu
had open, edit, new ect then it had encrypt. this i clicked on and typed in a
password. to read the file later i had to type in the pasword. does that
make sense?
Thanks

"CS" wrote:

On Tue, 8 Mar 2005 06:57:03 -0800, "footballer"
wrote:

HI
I saved some word files to a floppy disk which were encrypted when i was
using windows millenium edition.Should i have decrypted them before saving
them to floppy disk? I now have windows xp and cannot read the files. I have
tried to decrypt them with no sucess. I have been told that i have lost the
files forever. Is there any way of retrieving them as they had important
information on them?
any help grateful.
thanks

Since Windows ME does not have a method of encryption built in as does
XP Pro (using NTFS), what did you use to encrypt the Word files?
Whatever program or method you used to encrypt, you will have to
likewise use to decrypt. Otherwise, what you've been told is
correct; the files are lost.

As long as you remember the password you used you can read them. EFS is
a completely different animal.

footballer wrote:

Hi cs
Thanks for the reply
When using word to create a word document,as i remember the drop down menu
had open, edit, new ect then it had encrypt. this i clicked on and typed in a
password. to read the file later i had to type in the pasword. does that
make sense?
Thanks

"CS" wrote:


On Tue, 8 Mar 2005 06:57:03 -0800, "footballer"
wrote:


HI
I saved some word files to a floppy disk which were encrypted when i was
using windows millenium edition.Should i have decrypted them before saving
them to floppy disk? I now have windows xp and cannot read the files. I have
tried to decrypt them with no sucess. I have been told that i have lost the
files forever. Is there any way of retrieving them as they had important
information on them?
any help grateful.
thanks

Since Windows ME does not have a method of encryption built in as does
XP Pro (using NTFS), what did you use to encrypt the Word files?
Whatever program or method you used to encrypt, you will have to
likewise use to decrypt. Otherwise, what you've been told is
correct; the files are lost.