How to Set up Two Factor Authentication in Gmail and Yahoo

Two factor authentication has become ever more necessary today in the light of personal information falling freely into the hands of hackers. Its not just celebrities or big business houses that fall prey to such people, everyone is at risk. The first step to staying protected in today’s online world is securing yourself with a strong password. A handy password manager is also useful when you have too many online accounts and too many passwords that its almost impossible to remember them. The next step is to add an additional layer of security using two factor authentication. In this article, we show you how to set up two factor authentication in Gmail and Yahoo. We’ll follow up this post with other networks such as Twitter, Apple, Facebook and so on.

How to Set Up Two Factor Authentication in Gmail

If you are someone who uses Gmail for all your communications, you’ll want to make sure that your account is well secured. In fact, your Gmail ID is probably a gateway for many of your other online accounts so its imperative that your Gmail account is properly secured. to do this:

1. Navigate to the Google Account Security page and in the Password section, click Setup for 2-Step Verification.

2. On the next page, click Start Set Up.

3. In the Set up your phone page, type a number where Google can send you a numeric verification code.

4. Select the mode how you want the code sent, via text message or voice call. Then click Send code.

5. A six-digit code will be sent to your phone via text message or by a call. In the next screen, in the Enter Verification code text box, input your number and click Verify.

6. In the next screen you can mark the computer on which you are setting up your verification as a trusted PC. This will ensure that should you lose your phone, you can still access your account from the trusted PC without needing the codes. Click Next.

7. Click Confirm to turn on two step verification.

8. Finally, reconnect all your apps and devices. If you have configured apps to access your Google account on any device, you will have to create a separate app password for each and sign in again.

9. In the App passwords page, select an app and a device and generate a password. do this for all your apps. Each code password you generate will only work for one app.

How to Set Up Two Factor Authentication in Yahoo!

Try these steps to set up an added security layer for your Yahoo account.

1. Navigate to this Yahoo page and sign in to start the two factor authentication process.

2. Click Get started.

2. If you haven’t already set up your phone number with Yahoo, click Add New Phone and enter your phone number.

3. Then click Send code.

3. Enter the code you receive on your phone in the text box and click OK.

4. This will set up the two factor verification. You can also additionally generate passwords for apps, which won’t work when you set up two factor authentication.

5. Click Generate password, complete the security questions and then type a name for the app and generate a password.

While setting up two factor authentication is not the perfect security solution, it at least reduces the risk while interacting with various online web services.