Gmail makes it easy to bookmark different parts of itself. For instance: you can book mark your in-box at mail.google.com/mail/#inbox. That keyword after the pound sign is the key. Change that to #sent and you can book mark your sent e-mail.

Unread mail doesn't have a nifty keyword like that. Instead, you need to do a search within Gmail. Go into the search box in Gmail and type: is:unread in:inbox. Once you get the search results, which should be your unread mail, bookmark the rather ugly but useful URL. The easiest way would be to drag it right to the toolbar.

Now that seems simple, so let's make it more complicated so that it is easier to use later. You won't want to hunt around for that bookmark, right?

So, do this: right-click on the bookmark you just created and select properties.

In the keyword field, type a name you'll easily remember like GU.

Next, open a new tab. Type GU in the address bar and press enter.

Boom! You're taken directly to your unread e-mail. Nifty.

If you log-in to your Gmail account on computers that aren't yours, you're probably very responsible about logging out afterward so that no one can steal your e-mail account. But what about that one time you were drinking too much at the library (again) and you can't remember if you logged out of the public terminal?

Here's how to find out if you're logged in anywhere else, and what to do if you are. Scroll down to the bottom of your screen and click details.

You'll get a pop-up window listing all the other IP addresses that have logged into your account. If they're all the same, they're probably just the computer you're on, and you're OK. However, if you see a different one, you may have a problem.

To be sure, click "Sign out all other sessions" and all but the account you're currently using will be kicked out. If you're worried at all that someone may have figured out how to access your account, be sure to change the password right away.

The employee most likely thought they had proper security protections in place. We'll show you how the Gmail account got cracked, and how you can take better care to protect your Gmail account.

Obviously, you should start by picking a strong password that's not a dictionary word or easily guessable. But that password is only as strong as Google's password recovery system. Google allows three methods to recover your password. E-mail, SMS, and the vaunted "security question." Three methods an attacker could use to gain entry to your account.

To check your password recovery options, go to settings, choose Accounts, and click on Google Account Settings. Then click "Change password recovery options."

The e-mail recovery method tripped up the Twitter employee. In this method, if you forget your password, you can specify an e-mail account where a password-reset link can be sent. This is common practice in Web services.

Allegedly, the Twitter employee had their recovery account set to a Hotmail account that was deactivated. The hacker was able to guess what the e-mail had been, reregister the account, and was able to get the password reset link sent to the Hotmail account.

How do you protect yourself against that? Well make sure you have a valid e-mail account listed as your secondary account, and make sure that account has solid security protection. Or better yet, don't use this method. Just leave the secondary e-mail account blank.

You have two other methods to choose from.

Method two is SMS. This is fairly secure, since any attacker would have to get access to your phone, or at least be near enough to intercept text messages to your phone number to steal your password. While this isn't impossible, it's a taller order. Of course, it also means you have to have a phone with a text messaging plan. Still this is my favored method.

Method No. 3 is my least favorite. The Security Question. This is where a lot of people fail. If you make the answer to your security question something guessable or easy to find out, then the strength of your password won't matter. Google suggests a few hard to guess things like your first phone number or Dad's middle name. But while they may be hard, all of these are discoverable. Thankfully, Google lets you write your own question.

I think you should treat this security question like another password. Write your own question and make the answer something entirely unguessable. Like What have you never told anyone else about? Answer: 5623break. Yes, that may be hard to remember, but it's very secure. Unfortunately, they don't let you leave this field blank, so at best you can fill it with nonsense information.

No system is 100 percent secure and obviously the most secure method here would be to provide no way to recover your password. However, if that's too strict for you, now you have some information to help you choose where in that balance between protection and convenience you land.

In olden days, when you clicked on an e-mail link in your browser, it had to have an e-mail client to launch. That method doesn't work if you use a service such as Gmail or Yahoo Mail as your main account.

Firefox 3 to the rescue. Watch our video on how to do this tip, then come back here for the written steps.

Go to Tools and options (Firefox and Preferences on a Mac).

Choose Applications.

Search "mailto".

In the drop-down menu Choose Yahoo Mail.

What? You don't use Yahoo Mail? Thanks to Lifehacker.com for publishing the instructions for how to use Gmail.

Open your Gmail in Firefox.

You'll need this string of code to enter.

javascript:window.navigator.registerProtocolHandler("mailto","https://mail.google.com/mail/?extsrc=mailto&url=%s","GMail")

Press add application.

And now when you click an e-mail link, it will ask you which Web mail program you'd like to use.