Password Safe Tutorial
The following tutorial was written for users who deal with numerous passwords. An open-source software program called Password Safe
is a password database utility. Users can keep their passwords securely encrypted on their computers. A single Safe Combination unlocks them all,
which means users no longer need to remember multiple passwords, but a single one, to unlock all the other passwords, some of which are too
difficult to remember. This also empowers the user to store and organize their passwords in a secure environment and releases them from the need
to write passwords down.
The following tasks must be performed to use Password Safe:
- Download and Install the Program.
- Create a new database for your passwords.
- Populate the database with your passwords.
- Optionally, store the database where it can be backed up.
Installing Password Safe
Download Password Safe to your Windows Desktop.
You best select the .exe (32-bit Windows) version.
Install at your leisure.
Creating a Safe Combination
Double-click the Password Safe icon on your Desktop. You will be presented with the following Safe Combination Entry screen.
Click Create new database. You will be presented with the following screen.
Enter in a password, verify the password, then click OK.
If you entered a "weak" password, the program will give you the opportunity to improve it. Please note that this will be the only password you will
have to remember from now on, so make it a strong one. Also, if some one such as a hacker were to break this password because it was easy to
guess, they would have access to all your passwords.
When choosing passwords, following these guidelines:
- Don't use anything dear to you, such as relatives or pet names, birthdays, favorite hobbies, etc. Any one who knows you may be able to
guess that password. This is what network security professionals call Social Engineering.
- Use uppercase and lowercase letters, digits, and at least one extended character.
- Make the password as long as possible, at least 8 characters long.
- Example: Dog$4Elvis!
Once you have created your safe combination, you will be presented with the main graphical user interface (GUI) of the program.
Before you start adding passwords, you'll want to save the database to a secure location that is backed up. If you have a user drive that is backed
up, that would be the ideal place. Click on the menubar File / Save As... and browse to a location to save the file.
Creating Password Entries
To add an entry, click on the menubar Edit / Add Entry... Specify a Group to organize the type of password. The entry dialog will look
similar to the image below.
There are two display modes in the GUI, Flattened List mode and Nested Tree mode. Flattened List mode shows a list of all the descriptions
of the passwords. Nested Tree mode organizes the password descriptions into logical groups. To specify your preference, click View
on the menubar.
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Flattened List mode
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Nested Tree mode
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Retrieving Password Entries
Retrieving your passwords is easy: Just double-click the entry! This will copy the password into your
Windows Clipboard, where you can paste it into the appropriate passfield field in whatever you are doing.
You can also right-click the entry, where you will get differing options, such as copying the UserName into
the Clipboard.
You can also view the entry. This feature here is nice, because when you view the entry, it make you go
through another manual step to expose the password. This is a nice feature because you may be working with
some one, and you want to look at the description of your password (which may contain a URL or other useful
information) without actually revealing it.
Best Security Practices
You can access the following Options dialog by clicking Manage | Options.
Select which options suits your needs the best. The Best Security Practices, however, are shown
with checkboxes in the below two screenshots.
This concludes the barebone tutorial on how to use Password Safe. The Help Files are bubbling-over with
more information how to use this thing.
