You can say what you like about Facebook, the world’s largest social network, but the company really can’t be accused of coming up short when it comes to attempting to assist its members with account security. As Facebook has grown so has its security mechanisms to ensure that accounts are kept healthy and in the hands of rightful owners. Now, in an attempt to beef up that security and educate members, the California based social network has introduced yet another feature in the form of its Security Checkup process..
Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to get up and running with Facebook’s Security Checkup feature.
Step 1: Facebook is in the process of rolling out the new security feature to select accounts. However, to force access it right now head over to the Security Checkup webpage. You’ll need to be logged in on your Facebook account.
Step 2: Click the Start Security Checkup button to begin the process.
Step 3: This then provides three possible ways of staying secure on Facebook: Log Out of Unused Apps, Get Login Alerts, and Protect Your Password.
Step 4: Click on Review Logins under ‘Log Out of Unused Apps’ to view all browsers and apps that are currently logged in to your Facebook account. Facebook then provides a Log Out of All option to disconnect these sessions immediately if any of them look suspicious.
Step 5: Click on Manage Your Alerts under ‘Get Login Alerts’ to review the current account settings for alerts. Facebook provides the list of methods that are currently set up for login attempt alerts. This includes whether alerts are active, as well as the email address and telephone number that will be alerted when such an attempt happens. Check or uncheck the relevant boxes pertaining to your preferences or select the Turn Off Alerts to remove all.
Step 6: Click on Read Password Tips under ‘Protect Your Password’ to get some helpful advice on managing an effective and secure password. Facebook proclaims that the strength of an account password is more important than the frequency of which it’s changed. The social network always provides such as tips as “Don’t use your Facebook password anywhere else online”, and “Never share your password. You should be the only one who knows it”. Fairly standard stuff. There’s also the quick access option to change the current account password should you see fit based on the tips given.
The whole process should only take a few minutes of your time and should help make the whole Facebook experience a lot more enjoyable and secure for a lot of individuals who have never really considered security before. If anything, the chances are it’ll actually shock you as to how many open sessions are actually active on different browsers on machines or devices that you’ve logged into Facebook from.
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