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Mac OS X Leopard - ARCAism

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Other Keychain Options<br />

There are a few other features associated with keychains that are available from the Keychain<br />

Access utility. These are described in the following sections.<br />

Keychain Passwords<br />

By default, your keychain password (the password you will need to unlock data such as passwords<br />

and notes in your keychain) is the same as your login password. This password can be<br />

changed for each keychain using the Edit ➤ Change Password for Keychain “keychain”...<br />

command.<br />

Keychain Settings<br />

The Edit ➤ Change Settings for Keychain “keychain”... menu item allows you to access some<br />

additional options for a particular keychain. These include the ability to lock your keychain after<br />

a certain amount of time, or when your computer goes to sleep (you will need to enter your keychain<br />

password each time you or an application attempt to access a locked keychain). This also<br />

provides an option to synchronize your keychain with .<strong>Mac</strong>, allowing you to share a keychain<br />

across multiple computers utilizing .<strong>Mac</strong>’s sync features.<br />

Keychain First Aid<br />

If your keychain gets mucked up to the point that it no longer functions correctly, the Keychain<br />

First Aid selection under the Keychain Access application menu can help solve a number of problems.<br />

Depending on what First Aid options are set in the Keychain Access utility’s preferences,<br />

running Keychain First Aid will rebuild your keychain file and reset most settings back to the<br />

defaults, including setting the keychain passwords back to the login password, and setting the<br />

login keychain back to the default keychain.<br />

Data Encryption: FileVault<br />

CHAPTER 8 LEOPARD SECURITY 149<br />

While the keychain feature protects your passwords while keeping them easily accessible, File-<br />

Vault protects your data from others. FileVault, accessible from the FileVault tab in the Security<br />

System Preferences pane (Figure 8-7), encrypts the contents of your home folder, protecting them<br />

from anyone who attempts to access anything stored there.<br />

The first step in enabling FileVault is to choose a master password by selecting the Set Master<br />

Password button. This will open up a sheet (Figure 8-8) for you to enter a master password<br />

that can be used to decrypt any of your computer’s FileVaults. The reason for this is that if a user<br />

forgets their login password, then this master password can be used by an administrator to reset<br />

the user’s password, allowing them to regain access to their home data.

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