Last year, Google started doing a “security check up” with users. Having their users make sure that their account is secure, and then awarding them with 2GB of Google Drive space – which seemingly does not have an expiration date. It’s pretty simple, you just need to make sure that you have updated recovery information, look over your recent activity (mostly to be sure that is your activity), check the account permissions, app passwords and set up 2-step verification. Do all of that and you get 2GB of storage on Google Drive for free. Now these are all things you should be doing anyways, to protect your account. As everything you do goes back to your Google account, that’s definitely something you’ll want to keep safe.
This is a part of Safer Internet day 2016. Google is doing their part in making sure that users are keeping themselves safe on the internet here. 2GB of storage in Google Drive may not seem like a lot, but Google has been giving out small amounts of storage with all sorts of things lately, and it does add up. Google was giving out storage for leaving reviews about businesses on Google Maps last year. While that was a terabyte of storage – for around 100 reviews – that’s still free storage. Google’s security check up is another great way to add storage for free. Which can be used for your email through Gmail or Inbox, your Google Drive documents and files, or Google Photos. And with Google Photos being able to store full resolution images, the storage is definitely important for those that take a lot of pictures.
The security check up here from Google should only take you a few minutes, but it is definitely worth the extra time. Not only for the free storage that they are giving out but to be sure that you are safe. Whether you lose your password, or your account gets hacked. It’s a great idea. Two-Step Verification is also important for those that use multiple devices, as it’s easy to forget to log out and having two-step verification makes it just that much safer for you.