Keychain Access lets you view the keys, certificates, passwords, account information, notes or other information stored in a keychain. Open Keychain Access for me In the Keychain Access app on your Mac, if you don’t see a list of keychains, choose View Show Keychains. Keychain Access lets you view the keys, certificates, passwords, account information, notes or other information stored in a keychain. In the Keychain Access app on your Mac, if you don’t see a list of keychains, choose View Show Keychains. Select the keychain that you want to view. To see more information about an item, double-click it.
Apple has built several security features into its products that protect users from having their accounts or data compromised by hackers or unauthorized personnel. One of these is a fairly robust password security management system called Keychain, also known as iCloud Keychain, that’s been developed for Mac OS X machines. Although the usage method is quite simple, a lot of Apple device users don’t really know what Keychain is or what it’s for. And most of them don’t know how to leverage it to increase their password security online or offline.
What is Keychain?
As mentioned, Keychain is a native password management utility for machines running Mac OS X or macOS. Keychain is automatically created when you first create your user account, and it keeps updating to add passwords for all keychain-aware applications, websites, and servers that you access over time. One of the biggest advantages for Keychain is recovering password from iTunes backup when you forgot the backup password.
A lot of people don’t know that they can even store their non-digital information on Keychain, such as credit card details, bank account PINs and so on.
The default password for your Keychain is the same as that of your user account. That means, when you log in to your system, Keychain Access is automatically activated. You can also change your Keychain password. Essentially, what it means is that you won’t have to keep remembering and entering passwords for the applications and websites that you frequent on your Mac.
How to Use Keychain on Mac
Keychain will generally be enabled when you sign in with your Apple ID or user login, but if you want to make full use of it, you need to know how to use it effectively.
Best iphone mac notes app. In case Keychain is turned off, simply go to System Preferences >> iCloud >> Keychain and tick the checkbox. Enter your Apple ID password to activate it, and you can even set up a numeric passcode to set it up on a different device like your iPhone or iPad. Enter the code when prompted again, then enter a phone number (mobile) to receive text messages for authentication. Click “Done” and your Keychain is now set up.
Here are some other things you can do with Keychain.
Enable/Disable iCloud Keychain Password Generation
You can have Keychain help generate complex passwords when signing up for a new service or account. First of all, you need to activate Keychain in Safari. To do this, follow the steps below:
Step 1: Launch Safari and go to the Preferences menu (click Safari) on the top left after launching the browser.)
Step 2: Click on Autofill and check whatever boxes you want to use Keychain Autofill for.
Once you have done this, go to any website that you want to sign up for. When your cursor is on the password field, Keychain will suggest a secure password. Choose that and confirm it in the next field if asked. The password is now part of Keychain and will be auto-filled next time you visit that site and log in.
How to Enter Credit Card Information in Keychain
As with the Autofill function, go to Autofill and My Info, then select your contact card. You should see an option called Saved Credit Cards. Click here and then on Add Credit Card, and you’ll see a window to enter your card details. You will now be able to use Autofill whenever your card details are required online.
It is best to enable all authentication options when saving credit cards so the information can’t accidentally be used by another family member or guest.
View All Keychain Passwords
You can also use Keychain to view all of your saved passwords in case you need them for anything. Launch Safari and go to Preferences >> Passwords. It will ask for a password to authenticate you, and you must use your Mac login password, NOT your Apple ID password.
You will now see a list of sites and accounts with passwords encrypted. Click on one of them and it will reveal the password. Remember, this function has a time-out so if you spend too long on it without activity, you’ll need to enter the login password again. It’s just for added safety.
Considering that you now know all the cool things you can do with Keychain, are you ready to use it to save all your precious passwords and credit card information, and conveniently have them auto-filled when you need it?
Several types of known malware for the Mac target the usernames, passwords, and other data stored in your macOS Keychain. And while there’s no keychain virus as such, if one of those trojans is successful, it could leave your data vulnerable.
How to remove Mac keychain virus
There is no keychain virus on your Mac, but your Mac’s keychain data is a target for malware like Proton and MacDownloader.
![]()
To get rid of it, you would need to remove the malware that’s trying to access your data. The easiest way to do that is to scan your Mac using an antivirus tool or to use the Malware Removal tool in CleanMyMac X. https://uplehtq.weebly.com/blog/nasa-app-for-mac. It scans your Mac for malware and allows you to remove it at the click of a button. Here’s how it works:
If scanning your Mac doesn’t uncover any malware, or you are having problems with Keychain even after removing all the malware, there is another possibility. Sometimes, when you or an administrator on your Mac updates the login password, Keychain doesn’t update and instead keeps asking for your password or displays an error message telling you that the system was unable to unlock your Keychain. Here’s what to do if that happens:
What Is The Keychain App On Macbook Pro
2. From the list of keychains on the left, choose “login.”
3. Click on the Edit menu and select “Change password for Keychain login.”
4. Type your old password into the “Current password” field.
5. Type your new password into the “New password” box.
6. Type your new password into the “Verify” box.
7. Apple mac standard apps. Click “Ok” and quit Keychain Access.
What Is The Keychain App On Mac Computer
If you don’t know your old password, you will need to reset it. There are several ways to do this, depending on which version of macOS you’re running, whether you are using an administrator account, and whether you use File Vault. This Apple support document covers all situations and explains what to do.
What Is Keychain App On Mac
Problems with your macOS keychain can be caused by a number of different things. Sometimes it’s a bug in macOS, sometimes it’s because you’ve typed the wrong password. However, it’s also possible that malware has targeted the data in your keychain. To check, you should scan your Mac with an anti malware tool, such as the one in CleanMyMac X. If you keep seeing error messages from macOS, even when you’ve scanned your Mac, you may need to update your login keychain with your new password, or even reset your password completely.
Comments are closed.
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |