With KeePass 2, you get a great free Password Manager. It provides you with many features already, but if that should not enough, you can add features through plugins. One of the integrated features is a Password generator. This password generator is not bad at all, but if you want to have a better one, try Password Tech.
Do you need KeePass 2?
It depends. If you just have a couple of accounts to take care of and if you are able to memorize your passwords, then you don’t need a password manager. But if you are like most people, you have many accounts, and your passwords are too complicated to be memorized (as it should be). KeePass 2 will keep all your complicated passwords safely in an encrypted database. To get access to that database, you will need to enter a master password. This master password is the only password you need to memorize.
Easy but safe access through Windows Hello
One of the really cool plugins is KeePassWinHello. If your system supports Windows Hello, you don’t even have to type your master password to access KeePass 2. You can simply access the application through Face Recognition or Fingerprint. Just download the plugin below and copy it to the Plugins folder of KeePass 2. Unless you changed the installation path, the folder location should be “C:\Program Files (x86)\KeePass Password Safe 2\Plugins“. On the landing page (on GitHub) you will also find the instructions on how to activate the plugin.
Use KeePass 2, NOT KeePass Classic
KeePass comes in two very different versions. The old one, KeePass Classic, is not a bad password manager, but it lacks many of the features KeePass 2 provides. One of the more important features of version 2 is that it provides full Unicode support. So if you are not using English but a language with lots of special characters (e.g. Japanese) you are safe. To get more information about the differences, please visit this webpage.
Note: This password manager can only keep your passwords safe, when you are using a safe environment. This means, that if someone can hack your computer your passwords are not safe anymore. The hacker could install a keylogger on your system and get your passwords before you can save them in the password manager. Therefore be sure that you have a good virus scanner installed on your computer. That virus scanner can prevent the bad guys from hacking your computer and stealing your passwords.
