Don’t wait for the next story of an email password data breach to hit the headlines. Change your email password now to ensure only you can access your personal communications.
Gmail
- Head to myaccount.google.com
- Under Sign-in & security choose ‘Signing into Google’
- Under Password & sign-in method click on Password
- Log into your Google account
- Enter a new password (at least eight characters), then re-enter it and click Change password
Hotmail & Outlook
- Log into your Hotmail account at outlook.com
- Click on your name at the top right of the screen
- Choose View Profile
- Click Change password next to your email address
- Microsoft will verify it is you requesting to change your password: enter your email address and click Send code
- Check your inbox for a code, then enter it in the browser and click Submit
- Now enter your current password and new password (at least eight characters and case-sensitive), then re-enter the password
- Click Save
Yahoo Mail
- Log into your Yahoo Mail account at login.yahoo.com
- Click on your name at the top right of the screen
- Choose Account info
- Select the Account security tab
- Click on Change password
- Enter a new password, re-enter it to confirm, then click Continue
Read next: Best antivirus & How to create a strong password
Marie is Editor in Chief of Tech Advisor and Macworld. A Journalism graduate from the London College of Printing, she's worked in tech media for more than 17 years, managing our English language, French and Spanish consumer editorial teams and leading on content strategy through Foundry's transition from print, to digital, to online - and beyond.
Personal Tech|Where to Go if You Forget Your Hotmail Password
//www.nytimes.com/2017/01/02/technology/personaltech/forgot-hotmail-password.html
Tech Tip
- Jan. 2, 2017
Q. I forgot the password to my Hotmail Live account and I don’t have the same phone number as I did when I set it up. What should I do to regain my Hotmail account?
A. Microsoft has a recovery page you can use at //account.live.com/resetpassword.aspx to regain access to your Hotmail account. Along the way, you may be asked to enter the answers to security questions you previously set up, or to provide details about the account to prove your identity.
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On the first screen of the recovery page, choose the scenario that applies to you, which in this case would be “I forgot my password.” Click the Next button.
On the second screen, enter the address of the Hotmail account you are trying to recover, and then follow the instructions for entering the characters displayed on the screen; those are there to thwart software bots hacking around the web. Click the Next button.
The screen that follows offers several ways for you to prove your identity to regain control of the Hotmail account. You can have a security code sent to a backup email address — one you may have provided in your Hotmail settings at one point when setting up two-step verification to protect your account. A text message to a smartphone, or voice call to a mobile or landline phone listed in your account settings are other options, as is getting a security code from an authentication app like Google Authenticator or Microsoft Authenticator for Android, iOS or Windows Phone.
If none of the listed ways will work to verify your identity, select the button next to “I don’t have any of these” and click the Next button. The following screen invites you to enter an alternative email address (or create a new Outlook.com account) for Microsoft to send a security code — and eventually unlock your account with a new password.