Whenever your passwords should not be written on the paper and then put under the keyboard, caught in the pages of notebook, or even just recorded on the computer with Windows Notepad… In addition, the more and more passwords will become much easier to be forgotten over time. Therefore, we need a well-designed, reassuring password managing utility.

KeePass (full name: KeePass Password Safe) is a free, open-source, user-friendly and cross-platform (highly portable) lightweight password manager & generator.

Based on the database way with high security (very secure password algorithms AES and Twofish), and through the mechanism of Master Password & Key File, KeePass can provide a secure enough space for password storage. As long as you remember the Master Password, and properly keep the Key File and password database file, then basically all of your accounts and passwords can rest easy. Meanwhile, KeePass are also a powerful strong-password generator, which is absolutely much safer than you can think.

// 2 Main Purposes //

1. Generate high strength of random passwords with the built-in password generator
2. Manage your accounts and passwords under high security encryption algorithm and database method with classification

// Key Features //

• Strong Security (AES encryption, SHA-256 hash, in-memory protection, …)
• Multiple User Keys
• Portable (no installation required)
• Available for many platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, smart devices/phones, …)
• Efficient and flexible organization (entry groups, tags, time fields, file attachments, …)
• Export To TXT, HTML, XML and CSV Files
• Import From Many File Formats
• Easy Database Transfer
• Support of Password Groups
• Time Fields and Entry Attachments
• Various data transfer methods (Clipboard, Auto-Type, Global Auto-Type Hot Key and Drag & Drop)
• Intuitive and Secure Clipboard Handling
• Searching and Sorting
• Multi-Language Support (more than 40 languages are available)
• Strong Random Password Generator
• Plugin Architecture (provides integration with other applications)
• Open Source!

Obviously, it’s almost impossible to use the dictionary and guessing attacks to crack KeePass’s password database file, so some guys might think to use this method instead: i.e. perform a brute force attack to the KeePass master password. But on KeePass login screen, every 3 times of error login it will be redirected to the main interface program, therefore that progress will become extremely difficult, time consuming and torturous (maybe you can try to detect and then modify the registry key, file or even RAM used by KeePass to record the login attempts/logs).

// System Requirements //

• Microsoft .NET Framework ? 2.0 (already included in Windows Vista and higher)
• Mono ? 2.6 (for Linux and Mac OS X)

// Edition Statement //

The official site of KeePass only provides Windows editions (setup and portable for all Windows), but you need run it through Mono for Linux, Mac OS X, BSD, etc.

Or you can choose to use the Contributed/Unofficial KeePass Ports editions specially designed for all kinds of mobile devices (WinPass for Windows Phone, KeePassDroid for Android, MiniKeePass for iPhone / iPad, KeePassB for BlackBerry…), Mac OS X (KeePass 2.x for Mac OS X…), some Linux distributions (KeePass 2.x for Debian/Ubuntu Linux, KeePassX for Linux / Mac OS X…) or even command line interface (KPCLI, KPScript). You can find their links in the KeePass ‘s download page.

// Prompts //

• Never, ever forget the Master Password (password database access password) which is used to identify your identity, or you will fall into a big trouble, repent at leisure.
• As for the password database file (VerImpPass.kdbx) and key file (VerImpPass.key), they just can be stored anywhere (online space, hard drive, USB flash drive…)

// Related Links //

• KeePass Editions Comparison Table
• KeePass Help Center
• Plugins KeePass Plugins and Extensions download

// Download URLs //

 (Homepage | SourceForge)