Even though I currently live alone, I have automatic login disabled for my login account. Someone can't if you disable automatic login for your login account which is highly recommended. To have your keychain extra secure, you can also make your login keychain password different from your login password but if your login password is not the same as your default keychain password, you'll be asked for the password whenever an application needs access to your keychain and your keychain is locked - but this would be more trouble than it is worth IMO.ģ. If you require password to wake this computer from sleep or screen saver, someone can't. Although a thief can gain access to a person's login account and home folder/directory by using an install disc to manually change the login password for the account, this does not change the login keychain password also so sensitive data stored in a person's keychain cannot be accessed without knowing the original login account password that matches the original login keychain password.ġ.

Changing the login account's password via an install disc does not change the login keychain password for the login account. If you want the login keychain password to be different, you must change it via Keychain Access. When creating a login account and password, the password for the account's login keychain is the same as the login account password. Resetting your login password with the install disc does not reset the login keychain password. > I was interested to note your comment about being unable to reset the login keychain password after resetting the admin password on a computer with the install disk. Encrypted disk images use AES and keychains use 3DES. If my computer was shut down, how would someone get at the contents of my keychain?Ĥ. If I remained logged into my computer but put it to sleep, how would someone get at the contents of my keychain?ģ. If I remained logged into my computer but with the screen lock on, how would someone get at the contents of my keychain?Ģ. On the other hand, I really like it that my login keychain remembers all my logins for me and would prefer to use it to store sensitive information if I was taking an acceptable risk using it. I think that Ferd's recommendation of the encrypted disk image for sensitive data is more flexible than keychains because you can store anything in one. I was interested to note your comment about being unable to reset the login keychain password after resetting the admin password on a computer with the install disk.

I've been considering the relative merits of keychains and an encrypted disk image for some time and discussed it briefly with Ferd II

Forgot my keychain password