5 Tips To Improve Your Gmail Account Security

If e-mail is one of the primary ways for you to communicate with your coworkers, friends and family then you might have heard of Google’s Gmail.  As defined by Google, Gmail is a free webmail service that incorporates all of the best features found in other webmail services while at the same time improving and building on new technologies to improve the user experience.

Today, Gmail is one of the largest webmail providers in the world because it is easy to set up and use however one of the things that Google has always paid a great deal of attention to is security. Everyday thousands of people have their personal information compromised and many of them don’t even know it which is why it is important for you to keep in mind some basic tips in order to improve your Gmail account security, let’s take a look:

HTTPS

This is an acronym that stands for hyper text transfer protocol with an added security sockets layer but put in simpler terms, this is a setting to prevent your information from being stolen or compromised while you are accessing your e-mail whether it be from home, a hotel or a public wireless network.

Protect your password

This is one of the most obvious ways for you to improve your account security however many people still use generic and easy to guess passwords such as “123456″ and even the word “password” furthermore, make sure that your password includes both numbers and alphanumeric characters and that you never input your password after following a link which has been sent through e-mail because in most cases this is a form of phishing.

Update your browser

One of the most popular browsers used to date is the Internet Explorer browser, well over 60% of all Internet users use this browser but not many keep the software up to date which lifts them open and vulnerable to malicious web code and attacks. The best and easiest way for you to keep your browser updated is to enable regular updates from Microsoft if you’re using the Internet Explorer browser. If on the other hand you are using Firefox then you will always get a pop up indicating the new version has been released, don’t ignore this message and perform the update.

Change your password every three or four months

While this is something that not many people do it is important that you change your password if you want to keep your information secure. Changing your password as often as every 3 to 4 months ensures that your data doesn’t get compromised and that any unauthorized access will get it eventually blocked. Firefox as well as Google chrome, with a built-in password manager but if you don’t want to keep your passwords within the browser then a really good option is to use an application such as Roboform, Last Pass Password manager or 1Password for Mac.

Scan your computer against viruses and Malware

If you are one of those people who love using “Smileys” and “Emoticons” on your chat and web applications then make sure that in order to access such content you’re not downloading an executable program because this is how spyware, viruses and malware get installed in your system. There are many free options that you can use in order to detect and block most suspicious programs and files.

If you want a free antivirus then Avira “Antivir” or Avast are two of the best options, two great anti-spyware programs are SpyBot as well as Ad-Aware and last but not least you may choose between Comodo or Zone Alarm for your firewall.

Watch the video related to tips chrome browser

This video provides tips for adjusting the privacy settings on your web browser and demonstrates some of the unique features we’ve built into our browser, Google Chrome, that give you options for protecting your privacy while surfing the web.

Help answer the question about tips chrome browser

I keep getting banned at a message board. How do they know its me?
I got banned from a forum because I started a political argument and got mad and made an ass of myself on my favorite forum and now I keep getting banned over and over. I like to sit at my favorite PC at the library and they have DSL by Windstream. I don't have DSL at home. When I looked up the library PC's IP address, I saw my city's location marked on a google map and I saw the IP addy and I made a note of it, after I got banned. I don't know much about this stuff.

But anyhow, I re-registered at the forum with a new username, new password, new email, etc. I click on the activation email, etc., and started posting again. Guess what happened? I got banned again. It is at that point I realize that when you moderate a forum, you can see someone's IP address and apparently, I had been red flagged. Maybe they have software for when the IP address shows up it automatically bans you? Or do they sit there and do it visually?

SO what I was wondering if, if someone else comes along and wants to register at the same site that banned me, and they are in the library, but at a different computer, will they be banned also? Does the forum have software or some way to recognize that 'hey, this user is from City X, from that IP address we banned before, and we have got to ban this new user also!' Is it matching up the IP address, the location, the service provider, the computer itself or what?! If the people who live next door to the library were also using the same DSL provider, would they also be banned? Does each individual pc have it's own way of being identified or something? If I sat at the computer that is in the next booth over, would I be able to register at the site and post, or would I get banned again? How can I get back on my favorite forum and register again so I can post, but keep my opinionated mouth shut, and not get banned this time? I am so disappointed this happened—I had a lot of threads going there, and a lot of online friends, and now I don't know how to get back because each time I've tried (3 times!) I've been banned… Thanks for the explanations on all of this! I'm trying to learn something new here also. I appreciate your help!

And then, a few days later….

Look, you guys, it happened again. A few days ago, I sat here, at my favorite pc and got a new free email address through yahoo, registered again at the forum, clicked on the confirmation link and began to post again. I noticed that each day my IP address was different, as was the physical location (city) it was coming out of. I didn't start any arguments or anything at all, just thank you's, and then this morning, I am banned again.

HOW do they know it's me? Do I just need to clear my cookies or something? I have even used a different browser (google chrome!). I don't get it! Can someone PLEASE explain this to me? What is tipping them off?????? I keep reading that I need to change my IP address to get around this, but I see my IP address HAS been different, so how do they know its me?

If they are banning my IP address, does that mean that everybody in my area, (city) who uses the same provider is being banned also?

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To learn how to improve your Gmail security with a login helper visit our website for more Gmail login tips at loginhelper.com