SAVE YOUR PASSWORDS : KeePass

By Chinmaya Sahoo

Today you need to remember many passwords. You need a password for the Windows network logon, your e-mail account, your website's FTP password, online passwords (like website member account), etc. etc. etc. The list is endless. Also, you should use different passwords for each account. Because if you use only one password everywhere and someone gets this password you have a problem... A serious problem. The thief would have access to your e-mail account, website, etc. Unimaginable.

KeePass is a free open source password manager, which helps you to manage your passwords in a secure way. You can put all your passwords in one database, which is locked with one master key or a key file. So you only have to remember one single master password or select the key file to unlock the whole database. The databases are encrypted using the best and most secure encryption algorithms currently known (AES and Twofish).

You can download the software  Download

The following tutorial will show you the steps to create a password data base and secure them using a single master key.



                               Creating Database

The first step includes creating a KeePass password database. To create click " File > New", A window will appear, which prompts you for a master password and/or key file. The database will be encrypted with the password you enter here. The password you enter here will be the only password you'll need to remember from on now. It should be long and built up of mixed characters. Keep in mind that when someone gets your database file and guesses the password, he could access all passwords you stored in the database, so the harder the password strength the safer is your password database.

Click into the password edit field and enter a password of your choice. The password edit control isn't limited in length, so you can even enter a whole sentence (but you need to remember it).



                                 Adding an Entry

Time to store your very first password in the KeePass database! Right-click into the right password entry view and choose 'Add Entry...'. A window will pop up. In this window you can now edit your entry: enter some title for it, an username, an URL, the actual password, etc. If you don't need some of the fields, just leave them empty. When you're done, click [OK].



















You'll see your new entry in the password list on the right now.


                                       Using Entries

You got the new entry in the password list now. What can you actually do with it now? Right-click onto the entry.

You have several options now. You can for example copy the username of the entry to the Windows clipboard. When you've copied it, you can post it into any other program of your choice. The same works for copying passwords.

Alternatively, you can drag&drop fields into other windows.
KeePass can open the URL you specified. To do this, just click 'URL(s) - Open URL(s)' in the context menu. KeePass will start the default browser and open the specified URL.




                                 Saving the Database

It's time to save our database. Click onto the 'Save' toolbar button (looks like a disk; 3rd toolbar button). As you're saving the database the first time, you now have to specify a location where you want the database file to be stored.



That's it. If you thought that passwords protect you then think again, because you just learned few simple tips to  Save your Passwords !!