Keeping An Eye On Your Own Google Account Activity

It's all very well Google giving us access to "everything" they know about us in our own Google Dashboard but who really remembers to visit and check?

And with so many services being tied back to your account there is the very real risk of having a single point of failure - someone gets into your Google Account and they can run riot through all those other services hanging off it. Oh, and you're more likely to have your password stolen off you by someone looking over your shoulder than black hat hackers targeting your account.

Right, to keep your Google Account secure you first you need to have a smart password AND turn on 2-step verification - yes, I mean it, go on, turn on 2-step verification as it's the simplest way of upping your security level from smokey white to flashing red, from security level Bunnykins to Death Dragon. Do it now.

But once you've done that you can't just sit back and pray to the Internet goddesses that nothing bad will happen to you, oh no. It's a constant vigil. And that is, to be perfectly honest with you, a complete pain in the ass with little pay back UNTIL something goes wrong and then you're too fucking angry to think straight.

Fear not my young paduans, the might Googlers have come up with a half-way house that takes away a little of the pain - Google Account Activity.

This serves you in two ways:
  1. "What's been going on in my account?"
  2. "Wow, I never knew I emailed that many people a day, let me Tweet that!"

Whilst option 2 seems to have been the noisest option so far it is option 1 that will serve you the most.

What do you do
  1. Sign in to your account (Gmail or Google Apps)
  2. Go to the Account Activity page: https://www.google.com/settings/activity
  3. Activate it. Definitely tick the "Send me a regular report"!!!

And that's it ... all you need to do now is read the bloody email Google sends you!

And all I have to do is work out how I managed to sign in from India


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