by Rich Love
Copyright 1999
Carnation Software
richlove@carnation-software.com
www.carnation-software.com
What does it do?
Unlocks the Keychain in OS 9 when your Mac starts up
(or anytime you wish).
Unlocks multiple keychains also.
Mounts servers after the keychain is unlocked.
launches applications after the keychain is unlocked.
What Do I Need?
Any Macintosh with OS 9
AppleScript (included with OS 9)
Keychain Access control panel (included with OS 9)
Keychain Scripting (included with OS 9)
Why use this program?
Mac OS 9 automatically locks the keychain when you start
up your Mac.
You would normally have to unlock the keychain yourself
by entering your password whenever you re-start your
Mac. This is extra work that nobody needs if you are
just using your Mac from home or a small office where
you are not concerned about security.
It is also a problem for file servers that are set to
start up unattended at a specific time each day or
when the power goes down and back on.
"Keychain Unlocker" eliminates this problem by automatically unlocking the keychain whenever your Mac starts up or re-starts.
Files Included
An AppleScript called "Keychain Unlocker Script".
Keychain Unlocker ReadMe
How Do I Install Keychain Unlocker Script?
You need to enter your keychain password and save the
script as a run-only script.
To do this:
1. Double-click on the file, "Keychain Unlocker
Script"
Do not run the script.
2. Enter your keychain password.
(The first line in the script says,
set MyPassword to "Your Keychain Password"
Change "Your Keychain Password" to your real
keychain password and do not erase the quotes.)
OPTIONS
Options are located at the bottom of the script.
You can mount servers or launch applications.
A. You can optionally mount a server after the keychain
is unlocked.
The 'mount volume' command does this for you. Just un-comment
the 'mount volume' line by removing the two dashes
at the beginning of the line. Then substitute your
information in the quoted fields:
mount volume "disk name" on server "server name" as user name "your user name" with password "your password"
Note: Make sure that no other method outside of this
script tries to mount the server.
(Do not tell AppleShare in the Chooser to mount servers
upon startup and do not put an alias of a disk drive
in the startup folder).
B. You can optionally launch an application after the
keychain is unlocked.
For instance you might want to launch Eudora if it uses
a keychain password and you need to unlock the keychain
before running Eudora.
The 'launch application' command does this for you. Just un-comment the 'launch application' line by removing the two dashes at the beginning of the line. Then substitute your information in the quoted fields:
launch application "Application to launch"
Then click on the Check Syntax button and the script
will
ask where your application is (if it is not running)
3. Select "Save as Run-Only..." from the File
menu.
Select Classic Applet from the Format pop-up menu.
Disable the "Stay open" option and enable
the "Never show Startup Screen" option.
Give the applet a name and click Save.
4. Drag the Applet you saved to your Startup Items folder in your System folder.
That's it. You only have to do this procedure once. Now whenever your Mac starts up, your keychain will unlock automatically. If you have multiple keychains, they will all unlock.
Note that if you have more than one Keychain, you need
to use the same password for all keychains since you
can only enter one password into the Keychain Unlocker
Script.
=====================================================
How Secure is Keychain Unlocker
Not very. You should only use this at home or in a small
office where you trust everyone.
Make sure that you have your disk drives password protected
if they are on a network.
Then, nobody will be able to access your Mac from the
network to get your keychain password unless they have
your disk password for file sharing.
Note: You do have the option to re-lock the keychain if you wish. That is easily done from the Keychain control strip at the bottom of your screen (included with OS 9).
Also, you can rename your Keychain Unlocker applet to
some other cryptic name if you wish.
That way it will not be obvious that it's purpose is
to unlock the keychain.
If you use "Keychain Unlocker" on a Powerbook, you should secure your Powerbook with the Password Security control panel. Then only you will have access to your unlocked keychain when you take your Powerbook out of the home or office.
Apple's Keychain Access control panel also has an option to automatically lock the keychain after a specified number of minutes of inactivity if you wish to do so. Then your keychain would unlock during your Mac startup but lock automatically after awhile.
Tech Support
Please do not contact Carnation Software for tech support
on this product.
This is freeware. Report bugs or documentation errors
to richlove@carnation-software.com
Copyright and Trademarks
"Keychain Unlocker" is copyrighted by Rich
Love and Carnation Software, Inc. 1999.
Keychain and Mac OS 9 are trademarks of Apple Computer,
Inc.
Legal Stuff
Keychain Unlocker is distributed as freeware. You may distribute it freely.
Keychain Unlocker may not be sold for profit without the express written permission of Rich Love and Carnation Software, Inc.
No warranty is given or implied.
Carnation Software, Inc. cannot be held responsible
for damages or security issues resulting from the use
of Keychain Unlocker. Use at your own risk.
-----------------------
I hope you find Keychain Unlocker useful.
Rich Love
Carnation Software
richlove@carnation-software.com
www.carnation-software.com
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