Using Google’s Two Step Verification

If you don't know what 2-Step Verification is here is a simple explanation: The two-step system uses both a password and a numerical code tied to your mobile phone, which can be sent by Google via SMS or generated by a smartphone app. Either way, it means a prospective hacker would need to obtain both your password and your phone to access your account.

I’ve been aware of Google’s two-step verification system for some time, but I felt my very strong password, the fact that I don’t use that password anywhere else and that it could not be ascertained by usual social engineering methods, was more than adequate protection. I was also concerned the system might be a hassle to use since I routinely sign in from so many different computers and locations. I already do use a password manager (KeePass) that requires not only a master password but I also use a key file too. [There are other very effective password managers out there I suggest you use one. Ars has a good article about that here.]
But with the massive increase in hacking and high jacking of information and the advancement of brute force cracking technologies and techniques I felt it was time to get onto the 2-step wagon.

Also I suggest that if you use Yahoo mail for anything you migrate towards Gmail or some other ISP. Yahoo has one of the worst records for email security. They are  hacked all the time! One recent article is here.
And for petesake please do NOT 'link' your Facebook account with Yahoo - that too is a major source of hacked Facebook account activity. If you currently have it linked I suggest you separate it. You can read how here and here.

So here is a brief explanation of how to enable 2-step verification. I will also link to some other resources on how to enable and use it at the bottom. If you find this too complicated or too much of a hassle you can always disable it very easily.

So let’s get started. Login to your account and go to Account then. Security

In the Security list you’ll see 2-step verification. This is where you can ‘turn it on’ and edit the settings.

Printable backup codes. Warning: If your phone is unavailable, these codes will be the only way to sign in to your account. Keep them someplace accessible, like your wallet, desk drawer or other safe place. Printable backup codes.

Here click on ‘Show backup Codes’

I printed out a set and put them someplace safe. I also saved them to a text file and imported and copied that text file of codes into my Password management application – KeePass.

If you click on the Application Specific Passwords you can create them for you other applications like Outlook, iMail, ThunderBird etc. Just give it some useful name, click on ‘Generate Password’ and then make sure to copy (or right down) that password – it is only shown once! I just copied each one to a text file so I could then paste them into the proper field (password) on my Outlook/configuration setups.

Some other links and info.

Here's Google's info page. And more here.

Setting up Mac Mail.

Setting up Outlook.

One more thing to consider if you’re a paranoid guy like me. I have all my browsers set to delete Internet history, cache and cookies when I close my Browsers AND I also run CCleaner many times a day to clean out temp files. Doing this will clear out the 2-Step ‘security token’ so you must manually enter some specific cookies to NOT be deleted in your browser and/or CCleaner.

To create ‘safe cookies’ in Firefox here is a good article. For Chrome go here and read the ‘Make exceptions for cookies for specific websites. The method is just about the same for InternetExplorer and Safari.

For CCleaner you can add the cookies to keep manually. Read here.

The actual cookie names you need to keep are here:

accounts.google.com
accounts.youtube.com
google.com
mail.google.com
apis.google.com
0.docs.google.com
docs.google.com

Hope this helps some. Peace out.

Get your Cloud Data down to your machine

Here are some ways to get your 'cloud data' backed up locally.

I know most people look to the 'cloud' for their secondary backups (if they even have a primary one) but few people ponder what will happen if their information is lost or compromised in the cloud or the terms of service of the provider that holds that information changes to your detriment.

I am going to provide some information on how to get your data out of your web email, Facebook and some other services.

One thing I see quite often is that people cannot access their online/web mail service at an important time to find information or they lose or have deleted the information they need and have no way of retrieving it.

So let's start with web mail services. Today most people have very important information stored in their email; from plane reservations, business communications all the way to payment receipts. So in my opinion this is the first and most important place to start.

Get your mail downloaded locally.
For GMail. [My personal favorite!]:
Before you do anything, you'll need to enable POP3 and/or IMAP in Gmail, which will let you access your accounts on the desktop. To do this, head into Gmail's Settings and go to the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab. Scroll down to the IMAP section and enable IMAP. Then save your changes, and open up your desktop email client of choice to set it up using the following instructions.

I use Outlook 2007/2010.

If you don't have Outlook you can also use Thunderbird (an open source application by the Mozilla folks)

There are also a number of other mail applications you can use to get your information - Apple Mail, Thunderbird, Outlook Express, LiveMail etc..

I like using the POP3 connections over IMAP for most of my connections.
POP mail service has been available MANY times when IMAP has NOT - for my Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo. If the 'webmail' is not available online because of a service interruption then IMAP will most certainly too. This is not usually the case with POP. HOWEVER there is a big caveat with POP - you must make sure in the advanced settings or your mail client that you choose "to leave a copy of the message on the server"!!

But IMAP does have its advantages too.
So pick what will provide you with the most features you feel you will need - I suspect that would be IMAP probably be best for most people.

To set up POP with Gmail look here,  and find your client and follow the steps.
For IMAP go here.  and find your client or device on the list and follow the instructions.

If you'd like to read further about the differences between IMAP and POP you can read this here.

For Yahoo mail it is a little harder if you live in the U.S..
Yahoo wants you upgrade to a "Mail Plus" paid account to get POP and IMAP access directly. But you don’t have to! The best option is to use an application called YPOPs. I've used it in the past to get my Yahoo mail connected to Thunderbird and Outlook with out any issues.

If you have Window Live Mail or Apple Mail the client itself downloads your Hotmail/.Live or MacMail/MobileMe data to your machine by default. BUT remember this is an IMAP connection so if you delete something from you Live Mail client on the desktop it will be deleted on the server!

One important thin that may people miss is to get their CONTACT data out/backed-up from their mail clients. Something I also feel is very important.
For virtually all web mail clients that is as simple as going to the 'Contact' section and finding and choosing the 'Export' option. Those can then be exported into a format that virtually any Email client can import.
That should get you going with your mail.

Now to Picasa.
Simplest way is to install the latest version Mac or PC and then simply go up to the menu and use File ==> Import from Picasa Web Albums ==> Select All.
And Flickr
You can use Flickr’s Flash based web app here  just click on the 'start now' and follow the instructions.
Or you can use the open source application Downloadr . Downloadr is a photo downloader for Microsoft Windows. It provides a simple interface to download large sized images from Flickr to your computer.

Now to Facebook.
If you have Yahoo you can easily download/copy all of your contact out. You can follow this tutorial here.  One tip is that I would suggest setting up a 'temporary' Yahoo alias with NO contacts in it so that you do not end up with duplicates or mismatched merges. Then export those and import them into any application you choose.

Also Facebook now allows you to actually export YOUR data to a file! Following this VERY well written walk-through right here. I've done it and it works great! You may have to wait a while before you receive your 'confirmation email' and link but you will be able to get your stuff.

Finally there is an open source application Called MyCube Vault. MyCube Vault Backs Up Your Facebook and Google Data Regularly
Once installed, the app requires you to authorize it to each of the services you want to back up. From there you can tell the service where to store your backups and how often to save your data. If you're concerned about downtime or just wary of keeping your data in the cloud, it's worth a look.

I checked it out and it works well.
Windows version here

Mac version here

Well that is a long winded post and I hope some people will put it to use. Like backing up your local data don’t be the person who loses precious information because you were too lazy or couldn’t be bothered to learn something new.

Peace.

SMS from GMail

I've written many times about how awesome a tool Google Apps Gmail is. Check out these links.

One

Two

Three

Four and I’m sure there are more just look.

And I've also written about how to send and SMS text to a phone via email.
Here
But that does require you know the service provider of your recipient.

BUT you can also send SMS messages directly to any telephone number from Gmail/Google Chat. A super useful tool if you are in front of a computer and the party you need to contact is not.
To do so from Gmail:

1. Enter your contact’s name in the ‘Search or invite friends’ box in Chat, and select Send SMS from the box of options that appears to the right of your contact’s name. Or, if you already have a Chat window open for this contact, just click Options, and select Send SMS.
2. In the dialog box, enter a phone number in the ‘Send SMS messages to this number’ field. For now, this feature works only on United States phone numbers. If you're outside the US, you can still use it, but you won't see the SMS option in Chat until you enable it manually in the Chat settings page. 
3. Click Save.
4. A Chat window appears. Just type your message as you would normally. When you hit Enter, the message will be sent to the phone number you entered.

If your contact replies, the text message response will appear as a reply in Chat. These conversations are stored in your Chat history just like regular chats (but keep in mind that you can’t go off the record while communicating via SMS).

Note regarding mobile phone subscribers in North America: depending on which mobile plans your contacts in North America have, they may be charged by their mobile providers for receiving text messages.
Read about more about it here:

Note that as you 'use' SMS quota you can increase the number you are allowed to send very easily.
A quota is an allocation of SMS (text messages) that you're able to send to a mobile phone:

• Initially, you're granted a quota of fifty messages.
• Every time you send a message, your quota decreases by one.
• Every time you receive an SMS message in Chat (for example when a phone user replies to one of your messages) your quota increases by five, up to a maximum of 50.

If your quota goes down to zero at any point, it will increase back up to one 24 hours later. So, you won't ever be locked out of the system

SMS in Chat Commands:
Here are some commands that might come in handy for you down the road when using SMS with Chat:

• HELP: Text this command to any Gmail SMS number and you'll get a response reminding you of some of the basics of SMS and a refresher of some of the other useful commands
• STOP: This command will block all SMS messages from Gmail
• START: Re-enables you to receive SMS messages from Gmail if you're currently blocking them
• BLOCK: Send to the code number for a particular contact to block messages from that specific person
• UNBLOCK: Allows a blocked contact to send you SMS messages in the future

A little Firefox fix

Something strange has been happening for me lately

I have been having some issues with my Gmail in Firefox, and in Firefox only, after the last security update. And as most of you know I am a HUGE fan of Gmail with Firefox.

What was happening is that my Gmail response was slow, Chat would disappear, and 'respond' and sometimes even 'compose' wouldn’t work making my productivity slow and frustration speed up.

This was only in Gmail not in iGoogle. And only in Firefox, all worked in IE and Opera.

So after doing loads of searching I found the fix:

It appears to have something to do with the additional security settings from the last Firefox update. And also may be related to the 'Better Privacy' add-on I use too.

To resolve the problem you can do the following

Open up a Firefox browser window and type in:

about:config

In the address bar.

Then click that you'll be careful.

Then type in:

dom.storage.enabled

into the Filter search window

Double-click on the value to toggle from ‘false’ to true. [You can also right-click and choose ‘Toggle’]

Once the value is set to ‘true’ close any Firefox browser windows.

Restart Firefox and your problems should be gone!

Yay! Just thought I’d pass this gem along.

Gmail Integrates with Google Voice for Free Calls from Your Inbox.

Gmail is integrating Google Voice, bringing free calls to the U.S. and Canada and cheap international calls to Gmail—and it's available today.

Calls to the U.S. and Canada will be free for at least the rest of the year and calls to other countries will be billed at our very low rates. We worked hard to make these rates really cheap (see comparison table) with calls to the U.K., France, Germany, China, Japan-and many more countries-for as little as $0.02 per minute.

As soon as it's available in your account, you'll see a Call phone link in the Chat sidebar of Gmail. Click it, search for a contact or dial their number, and voila—phone call. If you've already got a Google Voice number, calls you make from Gmail will show your Voice number in that person's caller ID. You can also receive calls (if you choose) made to your Voice number directly in Gmail—making it a fully legitimate VoIP solution.

Google's rolling out the feature over the next couple of days in the U.S., so keep your eyes open. You'll need to have installed the Voice and Video plug-in to use it. It's not available on Google Apps accounts (yet), but Google says they're working on it.

Here is the rate chart for international calls.

With the great quality of voice and video chat already built into Gmail/GChat I think this is a killer solution.

Get Caller ID from Your Computer

Let's say you've got a landline set up with Google Voice and you don't want to pay for caller ID. Or you just spend a lot of time staring at your computer. If you're logged into Gmail, and someone rings up your Google Voice number, you can see who's calling on your computer without digging your phone out of your pocket.

Transfer Calls to (and from) Your Computer to Save Cell phone Minutes

Assuming you've already added your Gmail Chat account as a number that can be reached through Google Voice (which also assumes you've signed up for Google Voice), you can transfer calls from your phone to your computer to save cell phone minutes. Here's how it works:

1) If you're logged into your Google account, go to the Google Voice phone settings page. At the bottom, you should see a new option for Google Chat (like in the image). Make sure it's checked.

2) Now, when you're in the midst of a call on your cell phone—let's say you were talking to someone in the car, and now you're home—just hit the * (asterisk) on your phone's number pad to send the call to another Google Voice phone. If your Gmail account is open, your inbox should start ringing. Pick up in Gmail and hang-up your cell phone.

The opposite works, as well—i.e., transferring calls out from Gmail to your cell phone. Oh, and remember: If you've got a decent Bluetooth headset, you should also be able to stay relatively mobile, even if you're talking from your computer.

Find Your Misplaced Phone

Misplace your cell phone under a pile of clothes or deep in your couch cushions? If you left your ringer on but don't have another phone on hand, just log into Gmail, dial your cell phone number, and follow the faint sound of ringing.

Use It for a Quick-and-Dirty Speakerphone for Group Calls

Google Voice is already pretty good at setting up conference calls (demonstrated in the video above). Now that you can call from your computer, you've also got a quick-and-dirty speakerphone perfect for the group of people sitting around a table on your coast.

Make a Quick Follow-up Call in Response to an Email

This is less of an "amazing new thing" than a nice, practical side effect of having one more thing integrated with your inbox. Say you get an email from a colleague. You want to send a quick follow-up, but it's going to be a lot more appropriate talking than typing a reply. Dial the person up in Gmail and talk it out without disrupting your workflow.

Secretly Record Calls

Google Voice has handy recording function, but whenever you enable it (hit 4 to start and finish recording), Google Voice announces "This call is now being recorded." Prefer to record a conversation surreptitiously? Calling from Gmail puts the audio on your computer, where you can use any number of tools to record your system audio on-the-sly. (For example, despite what I thought at the time, Whitson later told me he wasn't aware I was recording the call in the video above.) File this under the know-your-state-laws category.

Google Voice Tips Tricks and Tutorials

I am a huge fan of Google voice. I use it for both my personal, and professional life. I am able to set up rules for contact groups that define many different scenarios. I like that I can give my Google voice number to my family and close friends and know that I can be reached no matter where I am - I can and do ring multiple phones. For business I can ring my office AND my cell ONLY during business hours and then after business hours only my office line is rung or people are sent right to voice mail. The list of really cool things that can be done is just limited to your imagination.

I am constantly asked for tips on how I do all this so I put together as many good and simple tips as I could find in this post. There are sure to be many many more if you just search for ‘Google Voice Tips’.

To get a Google voice number you will of course need a Gmail/Google account.
You can get that here

Then sign up for Google voice here

Find and choose a number locally (or actually in any area code you prefer). I recommend doing a search for something that has a mnemonic - like 'coffee1' (263-3331) or some other easy to remember number.

And before you 'set up' your Google voice  number check out these articles and walk through’s.

Great Google Voice information:

http://www.google.com/googlevoice/about.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFVXAqFNgic&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4Q9MJdT5Ds&feature=player_embedded

http://lifehacker.com/5311254/how-to-ease-your-transition-to-google-voice

http://mycraniumdrain.blogspot.com/2009/08/more-on-google-voice.html

And here are some other excellent video demonstrations and how to's. They are short, quick and easy to follow:

Call Screening:
Listen In

Block Calls

SMS

Place calls anywhere

Taking/Receiving calls

Phone Routing

Forwarding Phones

Voicemail Transcripts

Listen to voicemail

Notifications

Personalize Greeting

Share voicemail

Conference Calling

Call Record

Call switch

Mobile Site

GOOG-411

Manage Groups

Get Un-Buzzed!

Since Google ‘foisted’ Buzz on us Gmail users I have been very concerned about how it works and how privacy seems to be highly compromised. I made a few posts/buzz replies about how to turn off or disable buzz. But apparently buzz ‘sticks around’ unless certain deliberate steps are taken to actively remove ANY sharing of information whether you wanted to or not with people you approve and even those you don’t!

I do like a great deal about Google apps – Gmail, Docs and Calendar and I have made a few posts on using them for increasing productivity. I have also made it known that I do not want to share every bit of my life with Google too (see part about toolbar).

My fears spring from my natural high degree of paranoia and usual vigilance when it comes to privacy and security. Seems my concerns about Buzz were warranted. There are numerous articles of people – many very tech savvy, who have had information shared that even they did not know they were exposing. Sometimes to people that could pose a real eminent threat.
I have recommended that people turn off Buzz but I guess that was not enough. Here are the steps you should take to turn off this feature.

Turning Buzz off
If you don't want to use Buzz, and I think you shouldn’t, you can disable it. To completely remove all of your participation in Buzz, follow all of these steps AND FOLLOW THEM IN THIS ORDER(or it will not be disabled completely!!):

1. Delete your Google profile. Here's how.
2. Block all of the people following you. Here's how.
3. Turn off Buzz at the bottom of Gmail. Here's how.

Read more about Disabling Buzz.

Given the populist sentiment about the way it launched Buzz, by merging it with Gmail, resulting in a million-and-one privacy kerfluffles, Google's now thinking about going beyond the tweaks it made the other day by cutting the cord between Buzz and Gmail entirely. Or maybe just changing the way it is ‘linked’ to your accounts and contacts.

I make a deliberate effort to try and keep my privacy secure and I think all people should. Especially in the ‘information age’ we currently live in.
I am experimenting with further steps to make sure my information is even more secure. I will post updates as I can.

As always though, remember that the World Wide Web is exactly that – World Wide! If you post anything or have it ‘hosted/stored’ (Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, Facebook, LinkedIn, Digg, Myspace etc.) your information is then in ‘someone else's hands’ literally and figuratively. Your privacy and control of that information is subject to someone besides you. So think wisely what you post, comment on, or email by way of ‘public’ networks.

Be safe all,
Peace.

Cloud Storage Tools and Tips

Google’s new feature, announced earlier this month, has gone live. It gives everyone with Google Docs [if you have Gmail you have Google Docs] a 1GB space to store, and share, files of any kind, with the ability to share folders, this can easily be used to share any kind of media. This is very easy to use.
Here's a look at how it works.

There is also a service offered by Microsoft for users of their Hotmail and Live services called SkyDrive which lets you share files and folders.
Microsoft increased the free online storage limit for their Skydrive "storage in the cloud" to 25gb.
The individual file size limit is 50mb! Looks great for those larger files. Plus you could also ‘zip up’ larger files to pieces smaller than the 50mb limit.
I like SkyDrive for putting up to the web utilities and documents for me and those I support. By creating folders and protecting them by providing different ‘networks’ that individuals can access, I am able to who sees and gets what. Much like an FTP but it’s not my server and I don’t have to do some massive training for the less technically inclined.

Neither of these two services are  'live synchronization' programs like Dropbox, LiveSync or LiveMesh.

I think if more people new about and also how to use LiveMesh, they would. And they would start now.
It is like Dropbox on steroids! I know there are people who love Dropbox, but have always felt it was way too limited for me.

LiveMesh can be used on Windows and OS-X.
I am a new convert to LiveMesh. With LiveMesh you can have your files easily synchronized between a large number of devices, including phones, AND online in the cloud providing a backup.
Plus you can also use LiveMesh as a remote access tool too! It provides for a 'virtual desktop' a'la Windows Remote Desktop.
Here is a very good walk through. It is long but well worth watching the entire thing.


With tools like these there is really no reason you should not be ‘without’ important files or documents no matter where in the world you are.
Which ever you use, and you should use at least one of them, you will be secure in knowing your files are 'backed up' and available at any time.


[For the more geekier folk, like myself, who have multiple Hotmail and Live accounts, you can configure some 'super tricky' file synchronization. It just requires 'signing on and off to different 'Live'service accounts in the 'Mesh' task manager. But be carefull to keep your main account logged in most of the time so your important files are kept up to date.]

More On Google Voice

As I have mentioned in my emailed techtips to some of you before I love using Google Voice and most of Google's other applications (primarily Gmail). I really like Google Voice for the ability to 'transcribe' my messages.
This feature also makes for a great 'voice note taking' application, while on the road or away from a system.
Mark Stout has put together a newer step by step on precisely how to use Goolge voice for note transcription in a little easier fashion than I previously mentioned and it is definitely worth checking out.

http://markstout.blogspot.com/2009/08/transcribing-my-own-notes-with-google.html

Gmail adds contact synchronization over the 'air'

Fellow Gmailers and 'techies',

There is an updated sync tool from Google that works 'over the air' and not only synchronizes calendars but also contacts!. I have not tried this yet but sounds like I will be giving it a go later this week.I have been using Google's 'calendar sync' with my Outlook for a while and I love it!

This may not be necessary for me or regular 'Active Sync' users because I sync my contacts already, but it is worth trying out. Anything to assure 'uniform data'!This sounds like it takes that to the next level.
Google Sync uses a Microsoft Exchange server to keep all of your contact and calendar data in sync over the air. If you've added a new calendar appointment from your desktop, Google Sync will push the update to your phone. Likewise, changes you make from your phone are automatically synced to your Google account in the cloud.

If you try it let me know how it goes.

http://www.google.com/mobile/default/sync.html