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Happy Safer Internet Day! Are you celebrating? Well, if you are, you’re at least a day late because Safer Internet Day was actually yesterday. No worries, though. There’s never a bad day to try to have a safer Internet!
Google wants to help you celebrate Safer Internet Day and has a gift for you if you join them in the celebration. Just take about two minutes to check your security settings for your Google account before February 17, 2015 and Google will award you an extra 2 GB of space in Google Drive, their cloud service (like Dropbox). That’s about 1 GB per minute of your time! This free space will be added to your account permanently around February 28.
Even if you don’t use Google Drive or you’re past the deadline for getting 2 GB of free space, it’s still a great idea to check your Google settings. Do the Security Checkup anyway to make sure your settings are up-to-date.
(Note that Google Apps for Work and Google Apps for Education users are not eligible for the bonus storage but you should still consider taking the Security Checkup.)
How to Do Google’s Security Checkup
Go to Google’s Security Checkup Page. Log into your Google account. Go through the steps:
1. Check your recovery information to restore your account:
- cell phone number
- email address
- security question
2. Check your recent activity. Google will show you the last two devices on which you signed into your Google account and when that happened. Click “Looks good” or “Something’s wrong.”
3. Check your account permissions. Google will show you the devices and apps where you’ve given permission to access your account. You can remove any you aren’t currently using.
➾ See Clean Up Your Permissions! for an easy way to check your permissions on lots of accounts!
4. Check your app passwords for apps you’ve signed into not using two-step verification. You can revoke sign in permission for any apps you’re not using any more.
Don’t miss: How to Use 2-Step Verification for an Extra Layer of Password Protection
5. Check your two-step verification settings (if you have them set up).
After you’ve finished your five-step Internet Security Checkup you’ll get green check marks and accolades from Google. Yea!
You’ll also receive an extra 2 GB of free space in Google Drive around February 28. Google will send you an email when the space has been awarded.
Even if you never use it, 2 GB of free Google Drive space is still handy to have accessible to you. Someday, when you least expect it, you may find you need it. If not, well at least your Google security settings are up to date.
For more information, check Google Drive Blog
Safer Internet Day 2015
If you feel moved to celebrate Safer Internet Day beyond doing the Google Security Checkup, check out this video:
Also check Twitter for the hashtag #SID2015 to see how others around the world are celebrating Safer Internet Day.
Your Thoughts
Have you been celebrating Safer Internet Day? Did you know there was such a holiday? Did you do the Google Security Checkup? Are you excited to receive 2 GB of free space in Google Drive? Let us know your thoughts in the Comments section below!
Hi Carolyn,
Happy Safer Internet Day to you too 🙂
I loved this wonderful gift from Google, and have taken the right measures, just as you mentioned, though I’d gone through this process a weeks back also – but no harm re-checking once again.
Who wouldn’t like to get an extra 2 GB of space in Google Drive, and we’ wait till it’s added to our account around February 28, as you mentioned.
Thanks for letting us know about it all. Have a nice week ahead 🙂
Hi Harleena, Great point, even if you recently checked your Google account settings, you should go back and do it again today to get those 2 GB of free Google Drive space. You’re exactly right, there is no harm in checking the settings again so you can earn the space.
I’m so glad you were able to take advantage of Google’s generous offer. Happy Safer Internet Day, Harleena!
This is the first I heard about Saver Internet Day so thanks for sharing. It’s important to spend a few minutes to check Google’s and your computers security and safety settings, every couple of months instead of just once a year would probably be better. ‘Better safe than sorry’ is a good motto that springs to mind.
I have been using Google Drive for a couple of years now and I’m very excited to receive the extra 2 GB of free space. 🙂
Hi Silke, I’m so glad you’re excited to get your 2 GB of free Google Drive space.
You’re right, it’s important to check your settings anyway, even without getting the free space. That’s be best way of making sure your account is secure and up to date. If you have given app permissions that you’re not using any more then it’s best to remove the permission. As you said, “Better safe than sorry.”
Enjoy your free Google Drive space, Silke!
Great tips Carolyn! My one gmail account kept getting hacked until I learned about the importance of stronger passwords and the 2-step verification process. No hack-attacks since!
Hi Carol, That’s so very good that you have set up two-step verification for your Google account. You’re right, that important protection can make the difference between your account being hacked and your account being safe.
I hope you take a few minutes to do a Security Checkup now to get your free 2 GB of Google Drive space, Carol. Thanks so much for sharing your experience with us, Carol.
Thanks for your post. I didn’t realise I could get all this info in Google account. I also tried out the mobile site test. I failed but I am looking to put that right!
Hi Brian, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! That’s great you took the checkup and are making changes to have your account be more secure. The free Google Drive space will be an added bonus!
thanx for providing step by step guide. i will check it definately. 😀
Hi Rahul, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! I’m so glad you’re checking this out, both because it’s important to check your Google account settings and because you’ll be getting your free 2 GB of Google Drive space.
Thanks for this post, Carolyn.
I just finished the security checkup.
Is the 2 GB free space only for Google drive? My GMail e-mail space is over. It’s full at 14.94 GB. So, if the free space gets added there, it will certainly help.
I’m forwarding all e-mail to another account right now. And, GMail isn’t my primary account. I use it for some mailing lists.
I had seen this hashtag as well as some security posts at WordPress websites and blogs about SID2015. Read a few posts too.
Hi Raspal, Yes the free space is for Google Drive, not Gmail. Since you don’t use your Gmail as your primary account, you may want to clear it out to get more space. See, Empty Email Inbox: Win or Fail? to learn more about clearing out your Gmail account.
I’m so glad you completed your Google Security Checkup, Raspal. You will be getting your 2 GB of free space about the end of the month. Enjoy!
Hi Carolyn
Thanks for the tip. I have just followed the steps and are looking forward to the extra 2 GB. That will bring me up to a total of 17 GB for free 🙂
Hi Thomas, That’s fantastic! I’m so glad you were able to add to your free space on Google Drive by completing your security checkup. Extra good news is that your Google account is now up-to-date! Well done, Thomas.
Thank you for that! I am almost running out of space. Hope this is going to help me. However, I didn’t see any messages about the offer when I went for the check up. Probably, the offer available only on certain locations (?)
Hi Sunish, That’s great you did your Google security checkup. Yes, you don’t get a notice about the free 2 GB after you complete the checkup. You should receive a notice on or about February 28 about your free space. Be on the lookout in your email inbox for the notice!
Hi Carolyn,
Thanks for letting us know about Google’s gift! That was a great incentive for checking our security. I have to admit that I had not set up 2-step security yet. So, of course, I set that up to.
As always, thanks for a letting us know about this.
Hi Sherryl, That’s great you checked your Google security settings and set up 2-step verification for your password. Your efforts would be satisfaction enough but you get free 2 GB permanently for your Google Drive account now too. I’m very glad you took advantage of Google’s generous offer, Sherryl. Thanks for stopping by and letting us know.
Oops, I’m a day late in getting this done but that’s okay. I don’t use Google Drive so I guess I’m not losing out on anything.
If I’m not mistaken though, I’ve checked this before and everything was okay so I guess I’m not going to get upset that I’m late to this party too. Sorry about that Carolyn, I’m so behind again.
Neat thing to do though and thanks for reporting about this.
~Adrienne
Hi Adrienne, Sorry you missed out on the Google Drive offer but that’s great you are on top of your Google security settings. Many people don’t check on this which is probably why Google gave such a generous offer to its users.