Easy Steps To Make Yahoo! Mail More Secure

Many of you out there use Yahoo! Mail. I have an account that’s 13 years old (originally registered in November 1997)!

Y! Mail by default is fairly secure, but there are a few easy things you can do to avoid the account from being compromised. To note: Because of the recent Chinese hacker attacks, it has been found that Y! Mail is a relatively easy target. You can make it a not-easy target by following the instructions below.

Disable connection-related features.

This one is easy because it’s a single checkbox.

1. Login to Yahoo! Mail
2. Click Options at top right.
3. Click More Options (new) or Mail Options (Classic) from the drop-down menu.
4. Click General on the left sidebar.
5. On the right, uncheck "Enable Connection-related features".
6. Save the changes.

There are two significant advantages to disabling this. The first is that your Yahoo! ID is logged into less services, thereby enhancing the security of the account. The second is that if you run multiple computers in the home and find that you keep having to login to your Yahoo! account over and over again, it should stop after disabling the connection-related features.

Change your "secret questions"

These are the questions you’re asked should you forget your password. Unfortunately, in the way Y! Mail does this it’s all too easy to guess what your answers are. When you change them, the likelihood of your account being compromised decreases dramatically.

1. Login to Yahoo! Mail.
2. At the very top left is a greeting that states, "Hi, [your first name]" with a small down arrow. IF USING THE CLASSIC YAHOO! MAIL, HOVER over this but do not click. IF USING THE NEW YAHOO! MAIL, click once.
3. From the menu that appears, click Account Info.
4. You will be prompted to enter your Yahoo! Mail password. Do so and sign in.
5. On the next page, scroll down to Sign-in and Security and click Update password-reset info.
6. On the next page, scroll down to Secret Questions. Change BOTH questions and then click Done below.

For extra added security, you may also want to entertain the idea of adding in your mobile phone number. What this will do is that every time something changes to your Yahoo! account, you will be notified by both email and a short text message to your phone.

Easy tips for creating memorable (to you) new secret questions

Throwing in a little comedy will allow you to remember the answers to your secret questions easily while making it next to impossible for others to guess.

Example question 1: How long does it take me to finish mowing the lawn?

Answer: Four beers

Example question 2: How much is my monthly mortgage payment?

Answer: Too much

A hacker would expect some type of numerical value for each. If the answers are completely not what someone would expect, those are the best kind.