Keychain Explained / Help

[JoelBC]

I am -- by my own admission -- extremely focused on keeping my SSD as clean as possible and to this end would appreciate an explanation / help with the following:


1. Keychain Login listing:

I have noticed a number of entries appear multiple times...for example, a) an application password for Exchange appears twice b) an internet password entry appears twice for the same e-mail account c) public key for the same Apple ID appears 10 times.

Is it safe to delete the multiple entries (leaving only the most recent entry) and what is the worse thing that can happen were I to accidentally delete an item?


2. Keychain Local Items listing:

I have noticed a number of internet password entries appear multiple times...for example, an internet password entry appears nine times for the same e-mail account.

Is it safe to delete the multiple entries (leaving only the most recent entry) and what is the worse thing that can happen were I to accidentally delete an item?

3. Keychain Categories:

What is the difference between the listings that appear in the Keychain Login, Local Items and System Listings as there appears to be some overlap which makes it difficult to understand why an entry appears in a particular category.

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Thanks in advance for your help,


Joel

 

[satcomer]

It has to do with if the certifate is for the one user only and the certificate for any user on your Mac.

 

[JoelBC]

It has to do with if the certifate is for the one user only and the certificate for any user on your Mac.

Appreciate the response which does add some clarity...

Would greatly appreciate others chiming in so that I can carefully start cleaning up the keychain's contents...

 

[satcomer]

Appreciate the response which does add some clarity...

Would greatly appreciate others chiming in so that I can carefully start cleaning up the keychain's contents...

For the future when you get a System Level certifate it should ask you for your Admin password to install it. A user level certifate will not ask or a password unless you have the Keychain locked.

Encryption certifate are sometimes programed by bad programmers. They will issue a encryption certifate and install a cert in System and another part in the User folder. One cert is attached to your email address in the User foder and another holds the SSH key in System folder.

The only way to clean out the keychain is the Keychain First Aid and then manually go through each Keychain entry and delete this entries that are old and not used anymore.

 

[JoelBC]

The only way to clean out the keychain is the Keychain First Aid and then manually go through each Keychain entry and delete this entries that are old and not used anymore.

Appreciate the response, any resources or any way to determine whether a certificate is needed other than double clicking on it as the related information can be hard to decipher.

Thanks.

 

[NoBoMac]

How much space is the keychain really taking up? No access to my Mac right now, but guessing even the largest keychain probably does not eat up much space.

Hop over to your Library/Keychains folder and see how big it is. Probably best to stay safe and not try deleting stuff you might not really know if deleteable.

Website accounts are easily figured out, but the other stuff...

 

[JoelBC]

Website accounts are easily figured out, but the other stuff...

Exactly and it is the other stuff that I want to figure out....