Rar Password

By Author: David Phillips
Total Articles: 3698
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A password can be used to protect the contents of a Rar file, which is a compressed file format. The user-defined password is used to encrypt the file using a strong AES-128 standard encryption algorithm. Anyone trying to extract the contents of the Rar file needs to supply the correct password that was used for encryption. If the person fails to supply a password or types in a wrong password, they cannot extract the contents of the Rar file.

It is important for the user to remember the password used to encrypt the file so that the same password can by rightly used to extract the contents of the file later. If a user forgets the password, there is almost no way of retrieving the contents of the Rar file. The encryption methodology used is so strong that even the author of the Rar utility cannot decrypt the file once it is password protected.

Password protection can be applied at two levels. A default password can be specified at the very beginning before individual files are selected to be loaded into the archive. The File menu has a Set default password command through which this kind of a password can be set. ...
... This password controls all the files that are stored within the archive, and it has to be typed when the files are extracted later, either collectively or individually.

On the other hand, the password can be set when the files are selected and added to the archive using the Archive name and parameters dialog box. This dialog box has an Advanced options tab through which a password can be set. Either a single password can be set for a collection of files or each file can be set with its own individual password by adding them one at a time.

Passwords usually encrypt the data stored within the individual files. But there is also an option to encrypt the filenames themselves so that even the very contents of a Rar file are hidden from view, and without supplying the proper password one cannot even see what files are stored within the archive.

Rar file passwords are a very effective way to keep the data within the file secure and inaccessible to unauthorized persons. At the same time, passwords have to be used with extreme care because once the user forgets the password, the contents of that Rar file can almost never be extracted.