Posts Tagged ‘Passwords’

Nowadays every site you visit wants you to have an ID and a Password to access their services.  If you’re an avid Apple user, you probably have a password for your computer, one for your Apple ID and one for email; that’s three already and we haven’t even started using the internet!

I’ve seen many people who keep a page of ID’s and passwords either posted on their desk or even taped to their laptop.  Convenient?  Yes!  Secure?  NO!  You’re never supposed to write these things down because anyone who found the list would then have access to all your info. 

Fortunately, there’s a solution for this dilemma built right in to OS X through Keychain Access.

First, go into your Applications folder and find the Utilities Folder, double click it to open.  Next, we’re looking for Keychain Access, double click that and let’s get started.

When you first open it, there will likely be a ton of stuff listed there, but want we want to focus on for now is in the sidebar on the left.  We’re looking for a Category called “Secure Notes.”  Once we click that item, we should see things clean up in the main window.

Secure notes are similar to Stickies, but you have to have the login password to access them.  By using the + button at the bottom of the screen, we can add a new note.

Let’s say I wanted to save my ID and password for Google; I’d just type ‘Google’ in the Keychain Item Name and then my login and password in the note field and click the Add button.  This creates an item on the list which I can access later using my login password.

I’ll repeat this process making a new note for each of the logins and/or passwords I have so that I have them all consolidated in one secure location.

When I want to access them, I just go to Keychain Access and double click the note I want to view; enter my login password and voila there is my info.