Rob F. wrote in with an issue a few days ago:
I had been running in OS 9.1 for a couple of days. When I booted back into OSX tonight and started mail, I was asked for my keychain password. I have never opened Keychain but no problem, I thought, and typed my user password. No go. So how do I get around this issue?"Rob F. later wrote back with the solution ... so if you're locked out of an OS X application due to a keychain you haven't used, read the rest of the article for instructions on how to fix the problem.
This solution was provided by 'cricket', a member of Apple's Mail.app team:
"Here's how to fix it. Go to the Finder, click on the Home button. Open your Library folder and look for a folder called 'Keychains' -- move it to your Desktop. Go back to the Library folder and open Preferences. Look for a file called com.apple.security.plist. Also move that to the Desktop.
Now launch Keychain Access (it's in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder). When prompted to create a new Keychain, create a keychain whose name exactly matches your login name. When prompted to set up a password, set a password that matches your login password.
Then you'll be in Keychain Access with an empty window showing the Keychain you just created. Go to the Keychains menu and make sure there is a diamond icon next to the Keychain name you just created (that means it's the default). Finally, go to the Settings option in the Edit menu. Uncheck both checkboxes. Quit Keychain Access.
The next time you launch Mail, you may be prompted by a dialog that asks whether Mail can have access to your keychain. Click Allow Always. You'll also get prompted for any email passwords you have set up. Enter the passwords and click the save checkbox.
Now they will all be stored properly in the Keychain. This is how it's supposed to work automatically (i.e. you're never supposed to have to care about this)."
[Editor: I assume you can then throw away the two files sitting on your desktop, since they will have been re-created]
Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20010409004954423