Luckily, there’s a much easier way to sign in to your Google account than plugging in your password each time, and all you’ll need is your phone.

Once you’ve got it set up, Google’s “phone sign-in” feature lets you log into your Google account using a simple phone prompt.

You can set up Google’s phone sign-in feature on your iPhone, so long as you have the Google app for iOS installed.

Typically, you’ll only need to unlock your iOS or Android phone to sign in, or perhaps match a couple of on-screen numbers.

Only when you’re doing something sensitive with your account, such as changing your password or security settings, will you need to type in your full Google password.

Setting up phone sign-in for Google is easy—and yes, you can do it on your phone.

First, you’ll need to access your Google sign-in settings. For iOS, you’ll need the free Google app; just launch the app, tap your profile picture in the top-left corner of the screen, tap My Account, then tap Sign-in & Security.

Got Android? If so, tap Settings, then Google, and then Sign-in & Security.

Next, tap Use your phone to sign in. At this point, you’ll need to type in your full Google password; once that’s done, you’ll need to specify which of your Google-connected devices you’d like to use for Google phone sign-in. The handset you’re using will be automatically selected by default.

Google may occasionally ask you to match some on-screen numbers as an extra layer of sign-in security.

Note: Your iOS or Android device must be protected by a screen lock (or Touch ID, in the case of iOS) before turning on Google’s phone sign-in feature. And if you’re not already using a screen lock, it’s high time you got started).

Once that’s done, Google will step you through the process of signing yourself in with your phone. Follow the prompts, and after a few swipes and taps, you’ll be signed into your account. Finally, tap the blue Turn On button to confirm.

Now, the next time you’re prompted to sign into Google—be it from a mobile app, the web, or anywhere else—you’ll get a “Trying to sign in?” notification on your phone. Follow the simple prompts, and you’ll be logged in, no password needed.

Bonus tips

• If you need to sign in to your Google account but don’t have access to your phone, you can always click the “Try another way to sign in” link to sign in with your password.
• You can use more than one phone to sign in to your Google account. Just go back to your Google phone sign-in preferences and click the “Add a Phone” link.

Click here for more Google tips!

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But then you remember that your Android phone is in the other room (so far away!), and you get a little lazy. After all, you’ll remember the milk when you see the store, right?

Well, good news for those of us who can’t be bothered to retrieve our handsets: there’s an insanely easy way to set up Android reminders directly from your PC’s web browser.

Just type a reminder directly into the main Google search box on the web.

The trick: just type your reminder into Google search—yep, the main Google search box on the web.

Type in “remind me to pick up milk tonight,” and a “Create reminder” form will appear, with “Pick up milk” already filled in and “Today” and “7:00 PM” selected in the time and date fields.

You can click on any of the fields to make changes or edits, and you can also click the “Where” option to have Google (or Google Now, to be specific) trigger the reminder at a place rather than a time.

Ready to create the reminder? Click the “Remind me on Google Now” link, and the reminder will automatically be added to your Android phone.

The catch? You’ll need to be signed into your Google account, and you must be using the same account for your Android device.

Click here for more Android tips!

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Well, they got consolidated into something called the “app launcher”: a pop-up panel of popular Google features, everything from Google Drive and Maps to News and Wallet.

Want to rearrange the icons in the Google app launcher? Just drag and drop.

You can open the launcher by clicking the grid of nine little dots in the top-right corner of most Google pages.

When you do, you’ll see the default set of “apps” displayed by the launcher, including Google+, Search, Drive, YouTube, Maps, and Gmail. Click an icon, and off you go.

Scroll down to see more Google apps, such as Translate, Books, Wallet, and Shopping.

Don’t like the order of apps in the launcher? Just click, hold, and drag an icon, then go ahead and start rearranging.

Last but not least, you can add a missing Google feature—like, say, Google Helpouts or Groups—to the launcher by navigating to its page, clicking the app launcher icon, and then clicking the “Add a shortcut” button.

Note: Unfortunately, the “Add a shortcut” button won’t appear for some Google sites. Go to Google Scholar, for example, and the app launcher icon doesn’t appear at all.

Click here for more Google tips!

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Word’s “track changes” feature color-codes any edits, additions or deletions made by a collaborator, giving the original writer the chance to review, accept or reject those changes—and, more importantly, keep track of who changed what.

Up until now, “track changes” didn’t exist in Google Docs, meaning the only way to edit someone else’s work without simply editing their original copy was to add a comment in the right margin—a clunky solution, to say the least.

Just select “Suggesting” from the pull-down menu to make your changes appear as “suggested edits.”

Well, good news: the new “Suggested Edits” feature in Google Docs mimics Word’s “track changes” feature in all the important ways, making for much easier—and less confusing—collaboration within a Google document.

Want to give it a try? Here’s how…

• Open an existing word file in Google Docs, click the pencil icon (it’ll be labeled “Editing” if your browser tab is large enough) in the top-right corner of the page , then select “Suggesting.”
• Now, go ahead and type in some edits—and when you do, the edits will appear with color-coded highlighting, with a bubble in the right margin detailing exactly what you’ve added, edited, or deleted.
• Once you’re done with your “suggested edits,” go back to the pencil icon in the top-right corner of the page and select Editing again. Note that your color-coded suggested edits and their respective bubbles will remain visible in the document.
• When you (or another collaborator) are ready, go back to the document and click on a suggested edit to activate its bubble in the right column. Happy with the edit? Then click the checkmark in the bubble to accept it. Want to reject the change? Click the button with the “X”. Got a question for the editor? Just reply within the edit bubble itself.
• To view the “final” document without any suggested edits, return to the pencil icon and select the read-only “Viewing” mode.

All in all, not bad, although eagle-eyed Word users may note that there’s no “Accept all suggested edits” option—meaning that all suggested edits much be accepted or rejected one at a time.

Got more Google Docs questions? Post ’em below!

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Well, there is, so long as you’re comfortable with your snapshots and video clips getting uploaded automatically to your Google+ social profile.

Google’s “Auto Backup” feature is perfect for anyone who can’t be bothered with manually syncing their Android photo libraries to their PCs.

Related: How to sync your Android/iPhone photos to Dropbox

Once you’ve enabled the feature, all your future photos and videos—and previous ones, too, if you so desire—will automatically be synced to the “Photos” section of your Google+ social profile. (In case you’re wondering, anyone who has a Google account has a Google+ social profile, too.)

Don’t worry—by default, Auto Backup photos uploaded to Google+ aren’t shared with anyone but you.

No, your photo backups won’t be instantly shared with the world. Instead, they’re stored privately in your Google+ profile, and they won’t be shared with anyone unless you give Google the go-ahead.

You’ll also be able to view and download all your photo backups in a web browser, while Google Chrome users will be able to edit their photos online.

Last but not least, you can back up as many snapshots as you wish if you upload your photos in “standard” resolution—that is, photos no larger than 2048 pixels in either width or height.

Rather back up your photos in all their high-resolution glory? If so, you’re restricted to 15 GB of free storage provided by Google Drive, or you can go ahead and buy more cloud memory (starting at $1.99 a month for 100 GB).

You can view your backed-up photos on the web by selecting the Photos tab on your Google+ profile.

I tried Auto Backup myself with my new Motorola phone and came away pretty impressed, although I was initially a bit leery about uploading all my Android photos to my Google+ social profile.

The backup process was essentially seamless, with snapshots uploaded with a few seconds over my home Wi-Fi network. Videos, of course, will take longer, especially if you shot for more than a few seconds.

I then logged into my Google+ account (just click your name in the top-right corner of any Google page), selected the Photos tab on the left of my profile, and presto—there were the photos I just snapped, all nicely organized and shared with absolutely no one.

From there, I could download full-resolution versions of my snapshots, share them (or not) with friends and family, and even do a little rudimentary cropping and editing.

You can upload unlimited images to Google in “Standard” size, while full-size photos are subject to a 15 GB storage limit.

Here’s how to get started…

Note: the following steps may vary depending on the make and model of your Android phone. I tested Auto Backup on a Morotola G, running Android version 4.2.2.

• Open the “stock” Photos app, tap the three-dot menu in the top-right corner of the screen, then tap Settings.
• Tap Auto Backup, then flip the switch in the top-right corner of the screen to the “On” position.
• In the “Backup Storage” section, tap “Photo size,” then pick a resolution—either Full (if you’re OK with the 15 GB storage limit) or Standard (for unlimited uploads).
• I’d also recommend keeping Auto Backup from uploading photo backups over mobile data networks. To do so, tap the Back Up Photos setting, then tap “Over Wi-Fi only.”

Click here for more Android tips!

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And if you’ve wasted as much time as I have taking virtual strolls around the streets of New York, London, Paris, and San Francisco, bad news: there’s a new, time-warping feature that’s sure to deepen your Street View addiction.

Ready to give it a try?

Just click and drag the slider to go time traveling in Street View.

• Go to any Street View-enhanced address in Google Maps, then look up at the translucent gray module the top-left corner of the page. Just below the street address, you should see a little clock labeled with a recent date, plus a red “New!” tag.
• Click the date and the module will expand, revealing a slider with a range of dates. Click one of the dates, and the inset window will display the Street View photo for that particular snippet of time.
• Now, go ahead and click the smaller Street View image to make it fill the screen, then use your mouse to look about and wander around—in the past.

The range of available dates will vary depending on the location, and don’t expect to find any Street View images pre-2006 or so.

For example, I was able to travel all the way back to 2007 on my block here in Brooklyn, with snapshots available for almost every year up to October 2013. But on my old street in Sacramento, California, only two dates were clickable: March 2008 and August 2011.

Even if the available dates are somewhat limited, it’s still pretty heady to jump back in time five years and watch, say, the building across the street morph from two stories to five, or witness how today’s trendy restaurant was once a boarded-up eyesore (see the larger image above).

Click here for more Google tips!

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If a hacker did manage to hijack my Google account, they’d have free rein over more than 10 years worth of email, almost all my work files, every address I’ve ever looked up on Google Maps, all my saved Google searches…well, you get the picture.

So, do you have some, most, or all of your personal eggs in Google’s basket, too? If so, you’d be nuts to protect your Google account with little more than a single (and potentially easy-to-crack) password.

The good news is that Google offers a series of tools for beefing up your security—and if you’re smart, you’ll switch on as many of them as you can.

Here’s four essential ways to lock down your Google account, starting with…

1. Set up two-step verification

No matter how strong your Google password is, there’s always a chance (as the recent Heartbleed security bug reminds us) that someone will get their hands on it.

That’s why you should seriously consider turning on an extra layer of password security, especially if you have anything more sensitive than, say, your shopping list stored in Gmail or Google Drive.

If you have “two-step” verification turned on, Google will occasionally ask you for a six-digit security code before unlocking your account.

Here’s how “two-step” verification works: in addition to signing in with your password, Google will periodically ask you for a six-digit security code before unlocking your account.

The ever-changing code gets beamed to your phone via text message or a special Google “authenticator” app.

Now, I admit to an occasional weary sigh whenever Google pops up a security screen asking for yet another six-digit authentication code. (You can, at least, set your PC or Mac to only prompt you for a Google code every 30 days or so.)

That said, it’s comforting knowing that a hacker with your Google password would need to jump through more hoops before unlocking your account—and all your precious data.

Want to turn on two-step verification? Here’s how…

• Log into Google, click your Google icon in the top-right corner of the page, then click Account.
• On the next page, click the Security tab, find “2-Step Verification” in the Password section, click the Setup link, then follow the steps.

2. Check your recent activity

Want to find out if anyone other than you has been poking around your Google account?

There’s an easy way to view the most recent activity for your account—including the last several times someone logged in, their approximate location, their IP address, whether they logged in with a Mac or PC, and more.

• Go back to the Security tab under your Account settings, find the “Recent activity” section, then click the “View all events” link.
• Check out the list of recent events—and as you do, pay special attention to the map on the right side of the page.
• See anything suspicious? If so, click the “Change password” and create a new password, pronto.

3. Get a text message whenever there’s “suspicious” activity

Just like your credit card company, Google is constantly checking for “suspicious” activity on your account, such as a changed password or multiple failed login attempts.

Google will send you an email whenever it thinks a stranger is poking around your account. Even better, it can send you a text message—but only if you give it a cell number first.

Here’s what you do…

• Once again, head for the Security tab in your Account settings, then click the “Edit” link under “Send phone alerts.”
• Under the “Notifications” heading, click the “Edit” link next to “Phone number.”
• Enter your number, then click the blue button to get a verification code.
• Back on the Notifications page, make sure “Phone” is checked as an alert option for both “Password change” and “Suspicious attempt to access account.”

4. Set up a “recovery” phone and email address

So, let’s say a hacker does manage to sneak into your account, or you otherwise find yourself locked out of Google. Now what?

The easiest way to prove that you’re you is to have Google call or text your mobile number—but again, you’ll need to make sure Google has your digits.

You should also supply Google with an alternate email address—you know, one where they can send a link for resetting a lost or stolen password.

• Once more, click the Security tab in your main Google settings, then click one of the Edit links next to “Recovery phone” and “Recovery email” in the “Recovery & alerts” section.
• Go ahead and entire the phone number and email address where you’d like Google to contact you in case something happens to your account.
• All set? Click the blue Save button.

Click here for more Google tips!

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Discovered only a few weeks ago, Heartbleed is the code name for a gaping hole in a commonly used security protocol that’s supposed to protect passwords, credit card numbers, and other sensitive data submitted through a web page.

Some of the biggest web sites on the planet—think Google, Yahoo, Pinterest, and more—may have been vulnerable to Heartbleed, and most have raced to beef up their security.

Unfortunately, it’s possible that hackers have already scooped up a generous portion of exposed passwords. (And before you scramble to your PC, security experts warn that you shouldn’t bother changing your password for a given site until you’re sure they’ve patched the security hole.)

So, what can you do to keep bad guys from stealing your passwords with help from the next Heartbleed? (And yes, there will eventually be another bug or virus that takes Heartbleed’s place in the headlines.)

Well, like wearing a seat belt in a car, there are plenty of measures you can take to greatly reduce—but (as Heartbleed proves) not eliminate—the odds of your Internet accounts getting hijacked by hackers.

Nope, there’s no such thing as bulletproof Internet security—but there’s no guarantee a seat belt will save your life in a car crash, and you still buckle up, right? (Right??)

Here’s five things you should do to keep your passwords (relatively) safe, starting with…

1. Get a password manager

Sure, it’s hard to give up your old password habits and start fresh with new ones, and it’s even harder to entrust your precious passwords to an unfamiliar program.

Believe me, I know. I dragged my heels for years before finally breaking down and buying my own password manager, and I had all kinds of excuses for doing so: hackers might break into the program and steal my passwords, I didn’t have time to figure out how to use it, my passwords were probably safe anyway…etcetera, etcetera.

Well, it’s true that no password manager can possibly keep all your passwords completely safe, and yes, there’s usually a learning curve. And no one hates change more than me.

Painful though it was, though, I finally did make the plunge with a password manager, and I’m glad I did. No more scraps of paper with passwords scribbled on them, no more forgotten passwords, and no more “weak” passwords like “Patterson123.”

Indeed, once you pick a password manager of your own, you’ll find the following steps a whole lot easier. Take, for example…

2. Use lengthy, “strong” passwords

A password like “Patterson123” or the old, not-so-reliable “password” is easy to remember, but guessing them is a piece of cake for even the most casual hackers.

Indeed, enterprising password thieves have collected gigantic databases of stolen passwords, culling through them to figure out the most popular combinations of words, letters and numbers.

Bottom line: If there’s an identifiable word or name in your favorite password, it’s “weak.” Period. Your birthday backwards won’t cut it, either, nor will the name the street you grew up on

Instead, make sure your passwords are “strong”—meaning they contain (ideally) a meaningless garble of letters, numbers and symbols.

In its guide to creating strong passwords, Microsoft recommends at least eight characters, no words or real names, plenty of symbols, a combination of lower- and upper-case letters, plus a sprinkling of numbers for good measure.

Nope, strong passwords aren’t easy to remember, but they’re tough (although not impossible) to crack.

Besides, your password manager can remember—and even create—those lengthy, indecipherable passwords for you.

3. Never use the same password twice

It is, of course, much easier to remember one password for all your accounts than it is to commit dozens of passwords to memory—and yes, for years, I was one of those one-password-for-everythng people.

As you can imagine, though, using the same password for all your Internet accounts makes life incredibly easy for any hacker who manages to steal your one big password.

That’s why you need to use different passwords for each of your online accounts.

I know, I know—even more to remember, right? Again, here’s where a password manager (which, typically, will store all your passwords in a searchable database) can come to the rescue.

4. Change your passwords regularly

Like bread in a cupboard or the clothes in your wardrobe, passwords get stale over time.

No, you don’t have to change your passwords as often as the Kardashians shed wardrobes, but you should consider changing your passwords at least every six months or so—all the better to keep hackers guessing.

The best password managers can help by flagging passwords that are ripe for changing, as well as storing your old passwords in case you ever need them again.

5. Use “two-step” authentication whenever possible

So, you’ve diligently exchanged your weak passwords for strong ones, you’ve created different passwords for each of your accounts, and you’re changing your passwords every few months or so.

Does that mean your passwords are completely safe from hackers? Sadly, no.

That’s why you should consider an extra level of security for your most precious online accounts, particularly when it comes to your primary email account—you know, the one where all those “Reset your password” messages go.

Some of the biggest online services around—think Facebook, Google, Apple, and the like—have implemented something called “two-step” authentication: a method of securing a password with a secondary numeric code.

Switch on two-step authentication on Google, for example, and Google will regularly (but not always) prompt you for a six-digit code after you’ve entered your password.

This code changes every 60 seconds, and it’s sent to your phone via text message or a special “authenticator” app.

Sound like a pain? Well, it is, and I still find myself groaning whenever I need to fetch another six-number authentication number on my iPhone.

But what’s a pain for me is even worse for a hacker, who now has an extra hoop to jump through even once s/he’s managed to snare one of my strong passwords.

Got more Internet security questions, or password tips you’d like to share? Post ’em below!

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Hi Charles! Well, the answer to that question depends on the type of email account you’re using—and yes, things may get a bit technical here, so bear with me.

While email services like Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook have their own features, user interfaces, and other bells and whistles, they all use (for the most part) the same types of email “protocols” when it comes to delivering messages to external mail clients—you know, like the Mail program on your Mac, or your iPad’s Mail app.

Two of the most common protocols are POP (short for “Post Office Protocol”) and IMAP (“Internet Message Access Protocol”), and there’s an important difference between the two.

IMAP lets you sync messages and mail folders between your email provider and your desktop and mobile clients, while POP merely lets your email client “fetch” new messages from a mail server—no syncing allowed.

For example: with an IMAP email provider, if you read a message on your Mac and then move it into your “archive” folder, the message will also be neatly filed away on your iPad. With a POP provider, though, the messages you read and archive on your Mac will still show up as “new” messages in your iPad’s email inbox.

Now, as long as your email provider supports IMAP—and most big email services do, including Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook—the messages in your desktop client should sync up with your iPad.

As long as your email provider supports IMAP, you should be able to sync your email between multiple devices.

All you have to do is look up the right IMAP settings for your mobile and/or desktop email client. Just search your provider’s “help” pages, or go here for Gmail, here for Outlook.com, or here for Yahoo Mail.

OK, but what if your email service only supports POP email? (And yes, that’s still the case for some providers, particularly the smaller ones.)

If so, bad news: you won’t be able to sync email between your Mac and iPad (or between, say, your PC and an Android phone).

So if email syncing is important to you (and it sounds like it is), it might be time to consider jumping ship for a new email service.

Hope that helps, Charles. Still have questions? Let me know!

Bonus tip

Most modern email clients should configure your mail accounts automatically, no advanced settings required.

For example, both the Mac Mail client and your iPhone or iPad should be able to connect to a Gmail account—IMAP settings and all—once you enter your Google username and password.

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With a simple command, you can save (or “cache”) a street, neighborhood, or even an entire city to your phone’s memory, perfect for navigating the twisty streets of Paris, London, Hong Kong, or just about anywhere else, no Internet connection required.

Just tap “ok maps” into the search box to save the on-screen map to your phone’s memory.

Here’s the trick…

• First, while your iPhone or Android phone is still online, open Google Maps and then search, swipe and pinch until the map you want to save offline is on the screen—and yes, you can go ahead and save an entire city, if you wish. (You’ll get an error message if you try to save a map that’s too large.)
• Tap “ok maps” into the search box and tap the Search button. If you’re using an Android phone, you can also tap the microphone in the search box and say “OK maps.”
• Next, your phone will start “caching” the on-screen map to its memory. Saving a map of Paris to my iPhone 5, for example, took about a minute.
• All done? Go ahead and turn on airplane mode and zoom in anywhere on the map you just saved—and when you do, the streets, blocks and avenues will appear, just as if your phone was online. The only bummer is that search will be disabled while you’re in offline mode.

Bonus tip

Even if your iPhone or Android phone isn’t connected to a cellular or Wi-Fi network, it can still pinpoint its approximate location if there are nearby Wi-Fi hotspots around. Just make sure “airplane” mode and Wi-Fi are turned on at the same time.

Click here for more Android tips, or click here for help with your iPhone.

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