We have all gotten locked out of an email account and needed to reset the password. Sometimes your backup methods are no longer useful and the reset runs into trouble. To avoid this, you need to put yourself in the best position to recover a forgotten email password. Here are a few tricks of what to do NOW to make resetting a password easier LATER.
- Make sure that the backup email listed on all of your accounts is actually an email that you or someone close to you has access to. This does not have to be the email that is used as the USER ID. The important part is that it is an email you can read.
- Make sure that the backup phone number is not only one that you still have access to, but listing a cell phone is far easier than if you have listed a landline or other phone that doesn’t have texting ability.
- If you have a GMail account, make note of the date you started this account. This is one of the security questions that might be asked. We have another blog post that explains how to find this date if you do not know it.
- Keep answers to your security questions in the same manner that you keep passwords. You will need to know EXACTLY how you answered the question, including capitalization, punctuation and abbreviations.
For more information about Passwords, see some of the other SDM Security blog posts.
Good luck! A little planning ahead can save a lot of anguish later. You can put yourself in the best position to recover a forgotten email password. When you know what to do NOW to make resetting a password easier LATER, it can help a lot!