Problem

If you want to protect your MDB file, assigning it a password is not the right way. There is cottage industry out there specializing in breaking various passwords.  Access 97 databases, including the ones created by VB through DAO and other tools, are especially easy to break.  The database protection scheme is fairly simple.  Follow the link at the bottom of the page to download a break tool along with C++ source code.  The routines are incredibly simple.

Solution

One solution is to upgrade your Access 97 databases to Access 2000.  The database protection is much stronger and more difficult to break.  Although this solution is not foolproof either as we are seeing a flood of commercial products claiming password "recovery" (yeah, ok) for Access 2000, along with other Office tools.  Some of them use the brute force method - in other words, trying every possible password to open a file - and even though it takes time - they do achieve results.

Download

Grab a free Access 97 password "recovery" utility from http://www.logic22.com/pac/index.htm