First, let me say that while I've used this password manager on occasion for various reasons, this is not what I use personally.  If we're making a recommendation, we like 1Password.  But if we're looking for a completely free password manager that doesn't require logging into a website, KeePass is a solid option.  It's a no frills password manager that does exactly what you'd expect it to do -- store passwords.  

As far as I can tell, KeePass doesn't have native browser integration although there are Chrome and Firefox extensions available.  I can't speak to their reliability or their security.  Assuming we're just trying to get off of Excel as our password manager and we just want to move to something a little more secure and robust, without further ado -- KeePass...

We can find the download at https://keepass.info : 





Drilling down into the site to get to our download : 

Continuing to drill down : 





After hitting this page, we should see the download start and finish at the bottom of the page (if we're using Chrome) : 





Executing our download : 





Select Yes above, and OK below : 





Accepting the agreement and clicking Next > :





Accepting default choices and clicking Next > : 





Accepting default choices and clicking Next > : 





We're going to check the boxes for Create a desktop shortcut and Create a Quick Launch shortcut, then click Next > : 





And finally, we're clicking Install : 





The progress bar moves along quickly : 





After the installation finishes, we're going click Finish : 





We want to enable automatic updates : 





Upon clicking Enable, we're going to launch into KeePass : 





We need to create a database : 





Is this a good time to discuss backups?  We're storing the database for all of your passwords on your computer.  If you lose your computer, your drive, or something should happen to this database file, you will be unable to access your passwords?  Is this life or death?  No.  Is it going to be a huge inconvenience?  Yes.  Is this any different than if you were to lose your Excel file with your passwords?  No -- it is exactly the same. 





In this next step, we're storing the file in the Documents folder.  You can choose any location, this is just the default.  Personally, I would at least create a subdirectory to keep this out of the root of Documents.  You could also store this file on Dropbox, backup your database in Dropbox, or any other scenario that keeps the database and / or backups from being in harm's way from a single point of failure like a hard drive crash.

We're going to give our database a name -- my choice for a database name being unoriginal : 





After you're done selecting your database name and choosing its location, we're going to hit save, then we're going to select a Master Password.  Now here's the deal -- all of your passwords will be stored in this vault.  We ONLY need one really, really, good password.  And you need to remember it.  There was a time when we thought passwords like "Sup3rS3cret" we're bulletproof but that couldn't be further from the truth.  In fact, the guy who came up with that theory has retracted it.  What we really want is length.  

Diceware is a method for generating passwords by choosing random words based on the roll of the dice.   As an example, I used a site that generates Diceware passwords and it came up with the following:

frustrate marlin delicious

Again, we only need to remember one password so even though it will be lengthy, it shouldn't be too difficult to remember after a half dozen times of typing it into the login prompt.  PLEASE do NOT store this password ON your computer.  If you must do something, a sticky note on the bottom of your keyboard would be significantly safer than storing it ON your computer.  Do I recommend a sticky note on the bottom of your computer?  Not really but it's better than the alternative and if someone can break into your office and flip over your keyboard, we have physical access and that's an entirely different problem.

As a side note, the Diceware password above will not work with Windows Server password complexity.  That said, you can change the case on some letters from lower to upper, add some numbers, and you should be set with Windows requirements.  

Also, I'm not exactly sure how comfortable I'd feel about letting a random website choose my actual password for my super secret password vault.  I'm just offering a suggestion for a strong password but not recommending the web FOR your password.  You could just as easily choose a line from a poem.  "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost offers us:

The woods are lovely, dark and deep

And we'll just ignore the fact that I feel there should be a comma after dark.

Moving on...





Now that we've got our super secret password set, we're going to give our database a name:





Upon selecting our name, we're presented with an opportunity to print an Emergency Sheet which contains our file information and password : 





FINALLY.  We can actually get to using this thing : 





First thing you'll notice are a couple of Sample examples.  We're going to add our first entry.  I've picked a server since this is what I do frequently : 





We give it a name, we enter the username, and we can either enter the existing password or we can generate a password : 





Once we're finished adding the information for the server, we're brought back to the database and we find our first entry : 





Now we're going to create an entry under Internet : 





In this example, we're generating a password.  Instinctively, you might think that's entirely too long of a password but we don't need to remember passwords -- ever.  In this case, we want a strong password and length isn't an issue.  Now that being said, some sites will complain if the password is too long so maybe don't go for 256.  

Note above that we have the option to Open Password Generator : 





In this area, we have the ability to generate complex password that meet certain requirements such as those demanded by Windows password complexity.

If we click the Advanced tab above : 





We also have the ability to remove ambiguous characters.  This feature is extremely helpful in situations where you will have to manually type the password.  For example, if you use whole disk encryption, you will not be able to paste your password which is when oO01l.,;: becomes a nightmare password.  

One last thing as we're about to exit :





Seems like checking this box is an awesome idea.  I don't know why it's not a default because we have mechanisms in place to protect us should we make a mistake -- like a recycle bin :






If we accidentally delete something, we can retrieve it from the recycle bin that will show up under the tree upon first deletion : 





And if we make a mistake outside of deleting, we can also review previous versions of our passwords for a given item : 





That was a long way to go for exiting the application.  Only thing left to do is show you the login screen once everything has been installed and setup : 





KeePass is a fantastic application and it's free.  It literally offers just about every function of the pay services minus the ubiquitous presence across all platforms and devices.  If you need to have a cloud based solution that syncs across all of your devices seamlessly, you should look to 1Password or LastPass.  But if you can get away with it being stored on one computer, KeePass is a solid solution.

For assistance with passwords managers or other security solutions, please reach out to us through our contact page.