You know, there's a much easier way to retrieve a lost password... just e-mail Microsoft. When you signed up for you Passport, you should have been required to enter an e-mail address other than a Hotmail address. If you contact MS, they will send your password to said e-mail address and you'll be set. It's much easier than trying to decode the password in the registry... at least, that is, if you're trying to access your own account. If you are trying to access someone else's Hotmail/Passport, I suggest you read the FAQ here because no one's going to help you hack an account here.

AJ