Password Cache is a storage where the program puts all found passwords. In some situations AOPR may ask for a "Cache password". This situation may occur if you set a password to protect your cache. You can learn more about Password Cache in the program documentation:

About Password Cache
Managing Password Cache

If you forgot your cache password or set it accidentally, you have to remove your cache file. Please do the following steps:

1. Close AOPR
2. Launch Windows Explorer and locate "c:\Program Data\Public\Elcomsoft\Advanced Office Password Recovery\Password Cache
3. Delete the "aopr.pwc" files

This problem may occur when the program configuration file is damaged. To fix the problem, please do the following steps:

1. Uninstall AOPR using Windows Control Panel.

2. Manually delete the program directory if it was not deleted automatically.

3. Locate all instances of the "aopr.ini" file. Usually this file is located in c:\Windows, you can use Windows Search to locate it. If any files are found - delete them.

4. Manually delete AOPR settings in system Registry. Execute the following command from the elevated ("Run as Administrator") command line:

reg delete "HKCU\Software\Elcomsoft\Advanced Office Password Recovery"

5. Download the latest version of AOPR and install it.

Microsoft Excel uses very weak algorithm for protecting Excel sheets. A password is converted to some digit and very many passwords are valid in this case. That's why AOPR may display something like "1b1b1b1b1b1b" as a password. Just try it - it will be accepted by Excel.

When you run the password recovery on Home edition, it can be slower than in the Trial version. This situation occurs because the Home edition does not support GPU acceleration although your computer has some GPU. Trial version is intended to show the maximum program performance. Standard or Professional edition should be purchased to use the GPU. 

If you set up attack options and just reopen the document, AOPR will perform preliminary attack if it's not disabled in program options.

To start the attack with your custom options please do the following:

1. Open the document using the "Open file..." button

2. Wait until the preliminary attack completes. If you don't want to wait - please disable the preliminary attack at the "Options" tab before file opening.
Please read more about preliminary attack in the program documentation:
http://www.elcomsoft.com/help/aopr/prelattack.htm

3. Set the desired attack type on the "Recovery" tab. Please read more about attack types here:
http://www.elcomsoft.com/help/aopr/attacktype.htm

4. Set the attack options on the appropriate tab ("Brute-force" or "Dictionary"). You can read more about attack options in the program help.

5. Press the "Start" button on the toolbar. The program will start the defined attack.

When Office 2007-2013 document is opening in AOPR, the program may display that VBA password can be removed. But "Change VBA password" and "Delete VBA password" buttons are greyed out. In this case you have to use "Remove all passwords from document" button to clear VBA password. 

With it, the password is not being recovered at all. However, you are able to open VBA project (to view/edit the code); of course, you should have the application (this document has been created with, or later version) installed. Just press the VBA button on AOPR toolbar (or select VBA Backdoor | Open file through backdoor menu item). The program will prompt you for the document file; select one, and AOPR will run the application (in a special way) this document has been created with, and load your document into it. Now go into VBA properties (typically, it is under Tools | Macro | Visual Basic Editor; Tools | VBAProject Properties; you'll be prompted for the password. Enter ANY one (e.g., xyz), and it will be accepted! If your document has been created in Microsoft Office 97, you can use Office 2000 or Office XP, too. However, the reverse is not true: if you would like to unprotect Office 2000/XP document, but have only Office 97 installed, AOPR will still run it (with a warning message), but backdoor will not work.