What is a keychain

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Can someone please explain, in simple terms, what a keychain is and how it is use.

I have set up separate accounts for each family member, so that we can use Parental Controls for the kids. One son keeps getting 'Enter keychain password' message whenever he's logged into his account. The rest of us never see this.

Note: his logon password has been changed since we originally set up the account - could this be why?
 
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Yes. That is exactly why. You'll either need to revert back to the old password (which it's looking for) or set up a new keychain for the account.

An easy explanation for Keychain is, that it's a password management tool. It saves you the headache of having to remember all the PWs you set up for accounts both online and off. You don't have to remember the passwords because keychain does it (and keeps a list) for you. If you choose the "auto-fill" option for Safari, you'll (almost) never have to remember a password for any account again.

There are a number of places online that explain the Keychain more in-depth.
 
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thanks for the help. That explains it. Sorry to be so dumb, but I'm new to Mac and struggle with the OS sometimes - the help didn't even mention 'keychain' (and being a Brit, I would call the thing I keep my keys on a 'keyring'!)
 
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That's where my keys are too!

From Dictionary (US version):
key ring
noun
a metal ring onto which keys may be threaded in order to keep them together.
 

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