Need info on MS Word password protection / encryption

I'm doing some research on securing Word documents and trying to determine if documents are encrypted. First question, is password protection and encryption the same thing in MS Word?

How secure is MS Word encryption/PW protection? I've heard it was rather easy to crack, but I've nothing other than anecdotal commentary to support this assertion.

I've posted 2 images. One claims to be a "Protected" document. I know this document to be malware. Is the message the document displays when opened a Microsoft thing or something the perpetrator created? The other image is a "normal" dialog for a password protected document.

Finally, is there a way to examine the contents of MS Word encrypted/PW documents to determine if they are encrypted?

More Info ...

I've discovered that the document giving that "Protected" message isn't really protected at all. The word/document.xml component of the archive is readily extractable and readable. The "Protected" message is bogus and must not be a Microsoft thing.
protected.png
passwordDialog.png