Real World Computing
Webmail: the ugly truth
Data collection
So what information do you need to ensure the reclaiming process goes as smoothly and quickly as possible? Well, there's obvious stuff like your Gmail username, but you'll also need to supply the first and last names that you used to create the account in the first place, which can be problematic. Sure, you know your own name, but many overly paranoid people use a false name to create their webmail account, then promptly forget what nom de plume they've used. Google will also ask for the Gmail username of the person who invited you to create an account in the first place, assuming you joined during the invitation-only period, and the email address to which that invite was sent. What's more, the support people will be wanting the invitation URL that would have been included in that original invitation email for good measure.
What else... well how about dates? These always seem to get the better of me, and Google support will be asking for both the date on which the account was created and the last date you logged into it. And talking of dates, they may well ask you if you have any other Google products that you use that are associated with the same account (Blogger, Google Docs, iGoogle and so on) and the dates that you first started using each of them.
The Gmail support staff aren't insensitive to the fact that most normal people will be unlikely to know all of this off the top of their heads, and as long as you have enough information to convince them of your status as the rightful owner you'll be okay. But it surely won't hurt to be prepared and collect all this data together right now, so that you'll have it at hand for the proverbial rainy day, should it ever start pouring on your account. What's more, for once I'd suggest writing this stuff down and keeping it somewhere safe. As long as this information is kept offline rather than in an email sent to yourself, and if it isn't labelled in block caps as MY GMAIL SECURITY DETAILS, the chances of it being discovered or being of any use to a discoverer is so remote as to be negligible in the overall scheme of things. Security is about finding a fine balance between risk and paranoia, and letting paranoia win on every occasion is bad for your mental health...
Webmail best practice
Google has provided a checklist of best practices for keeping your Gmail account secure, and the majority of these recommendations will apply to whatever other webmail service you happen to favour, too. I've adapted them slightly here and I strongly suggest you read, digest, remember and act upon the entire list:
l Always sign out when you've finished an account session by clicking the Sign out link at the top-right corner of the screen.
l When you sign in again, do not select the "remember me" option unless absolutely no-one else has access to your PC and you're absolutely sure of that fact. Better still, never use the option at all, since it only takes a few seconds to type your login and, if those few seconds are so precious to you, you might want to take up meditation...
l Always clear forms, passwords, cache and cookies from your browser on a regular basis and always after a webmail session on any public-facing computer.
l Never tell anyone else your password and, if it does slip out, change it as soon as possible afterwards. Choose a good strong non-dictionary word that makes full use of available keyboard characters, mixed cases, numerics and punctuation symbols.
