Playing it safe while on Gmail

Gmail: One of the best free online e-mail service, with so many good features including support fort POP, forwarding, filters, communication over secure channel - https.

Google has taken good care security of its users as well. But still there are several possible threats at various points. Varying from browser compromise to visiting malicious website.
Keeping all these concerns in mind, it is indeed very important to take every possible preventive measure to avoid any compromise of your Gmail account.

Let's have a quick look at some important security considerations to keep safe while online with your google account logged in. Note that most of these tips are recommended by Google itself and hence are extremely important.

1] Always use HTTPS while connecting to Gmail.
There are several ways to do it.

[a] make sure URL in browsers address bar starts with https://

[b] after you login to Gmail, go to "Settings" and under the "General" tab in "Browser Connection" click "Always use https". Then click save. You can start here.

[c] you may also be fond of Greasemonkey, so you may install it's script to force https for all Google apps.

Greasemonkey is a Mozilla Firefox extension that allows users to install scripts that make on-the-fly changes to most HTML-based web pages. As Greasemonkey scripts are persistent, the changes made to the web pages are executed every time the page is opened, making them effectively permanent for the user running the script.

2]Check Your Filters Regularly
Recent Gmail vulnerabilities involve the setting up of malicious filters and email auto-forwarding. Hence you should check them regularly by going to your Gmail settings and make sure that you don't see anything suspicious here.

3] Use mail client application.
If you are using gmail through any POP or IMAP client application, chances of getting victimized by scripts injected in browser are eliminated.
Good examples of such clients:
MOZILLA: thunderbird, seamonkey,
MICROSOFT: outlook,
GNOME: evolution
there are many..

4] Browser add-ons.
If you are using browsser that support addons/ plugins, be careful while installing any plugin - from untrusted sources. These plugins can prove to be nasty little cretures. They actually can read/ record/ interact with anything in the browser. Once you install a "bad" plugin, remote bad guys can steal anything, including your login credentials, browsing history, real scary stuff.

5] Avoid falling prey to phishers.
Be well aware of possibilities of online frauds, phishing and other misleading mails. Never give avay any sensitive information online, including personal info, username, passwords, bank account details...

6] Take regular backups of your mail.
This is a good way to avoid possible loss of useful mails in case if something goes wrong with your gmail account.