The Overview of Windows Password Recovery software Cain & Abel

Cain & Abel is a Windows password recovery tool for Microsoft Operating Systems. It allows easy recovery of various kinds of passwords by sniffing the network, cracking encrypted passwords using Dictionary, Brute-Force and Cryptanalysis attacks, recording VoIP conversations, decoding scrambled passwords, recovering wireless network keys, revealing password boxes, uncovering cached passwords and analyzing routing protocols. The program does not exploit any software vulnerabilities or bugs that could not be fixed with little effort. It covers some security aspects/weakness present in protocol's standards, authentication methods and caching mechanisms; its main purpose is the simplified recovery of passwords and credentials from various sources, however it also ships some "non standard" utilities for Microsoft Windows users.
Cain & Abel has been developed in the hope that it will be useful for network administrators, teachers, security consultants/professionals, forensic staff, security software vendors, professional penetration tester and everyone else that plans to use it for ethical reasons. The author will not help or support any illegal activity done with this program. Be warned that there is the possibility that you will cause damages and/or loss of data using this software and that in no events shall the author be liable for such damages or loss of data. Please carefully read the License Agreement included in the program before using it.
The latest version is faster and contains a lot of new features like APR (Arp Poison Routing) which enables sniffing on switched LANs and Man-in-the-Middle attacks. The sniffer in this version can also analyze encrypted protocols such as SSH-1 and HTTPS, and contains filters to capture credentials from a wide range of authentication mechanisms. The new version also ships routing protocols authentication monitors and routes extractors, dictionary and brute-force crackers for all common hashing algorithms and for several specific authentications, password/hash calculators, cryptanalysis attacks, password decoders and some not so common utilities related to network and system security.

Cain & Abel User Manual is included in the installation package and also available on-line so you can view all the program's features without the need to install the program. The on-line version of the manual requires a JavaScript enabled browser.

Important: Before you can use Cain & Abel to perform Windows password recovery, you'll need to download a rainbow table. These large databases of passwords are required so Cain & Abel can hack the password. Download the free rainbow tables then extract the files to a folder on your desktop.
Start by opening the "Cain" program and then click on the Cracker tab. On the left, click on the LM & LTLM Hashes and then click the big blue plus sign on the Cain toolbar. Make sure the Import Hashes from local system radio button is checked and click Next ->. All the user accounts will be loaded to the right.
Right-click on the username you need the password for, choose Cryptanalysis Attack -> LM Hashes -> via Rainbow Tables (Ophcrack). In the LM Hashes cryptanalysis window, click the ... button and choose the folder you extracted the free rainbow tables to. Click OK and then Start.
That's it! Just wait for Cain & Abel to recover the forgotten Windows password.