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There’s a little known feature in GMail that can help ensure you account is not being hacked called Account Activity.

Recent activity includes any times that your mail was accessed, using a regular web browser, through a POP client, from a mobile device, etc. You’ll see a list of the IP address from which the access was made, as well as the time and date.

Here’s a screenshot from my GMail account:

(FYI… the reason my GMail is in grey is because I’m using the Better GMail 2 FireFox Extension, which adds all kinds of cool functionality (including some cool themes to GMail)

Clicking the Details link next to the Last account activity line at the bottom of any Gmail page shows information about recent activity in your mail.

The sweetness is that if at some point while you’re logged in someone else logs into your account the bottom line will change to something like:

This account is open in 1 other location at this IP (xx.xx.xxx.xx)

Again, clicking the detals link will provide a much more granualar level of detail about when, where, and how your account has been accessed.

Here are 3 things you should pay attention to:

1. IP Address – If you usually signin to Gmail using a single computer then your IP address should be the same. Or at least have identical first two sets of numbers (ex. 212.10.xx.xx).

2. Access Type – This column displays the way your account was accessed. For instance if you read your email ONLY from browser (Firefox, IE, Safari etc.) but one of the entries showing POP or IMAP access, there is a good chance your account is compromised.

3. Concurrent Sessions – If your mail is currently being accessed from another location, you’ll see it here.

In the example above you can see that I have Browser, Atom, and IMAP. The IMAP access is Outlook connecting to GMail, Browser is…well FireFox access it. Atom may look strange but that’s my GMail Counter Vista Sidebar gadget.

If you’re concerned about any concurrent access, you can sign out all sessions other than your current session by clicking Sign out all other sessions.

A Windows only experimental Firefox extension called FoxTab introduces a new tab switching interface to Firefox. FoxTab comes complete with five different thumb nailed views and man is it awesome.

FoxTab provides a new fascinating and elegant method for finding and selecting a tab in the browser.
FoxTab is designed to be suitable for many types of users, those with only few tabs opened and
those out there (like me) who usually have tons of opened tabs to select from.
The idea behind FoxTab is to provide new visual methods for quick tab switching.

We already know that FireFox 3.1 will have a new tab switching interface. But why wait, this thing is awesome. Take a look at these screenshots:

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FireFox has always been a good browser, but as of the latest release has become THE browser that I use daily. FireFox extensions make it wickedly powerful. As a web developer I find many of the extensions invaluable. Here’s the best of the best…

Web developer`s toolbar

Web Developer`s tool bar probably will become one of the best plugins You`ve ever seen. It comes with his own tool bar that gives many useful tools for analyzing, validating and optimizing web-pages. The great thing about this plugin is that it’s on a few different browsers, so if you switch between them you will be able to use the same plugin on all.

Web Developer Toolbar

Firebug

Firebug is pretty similar as web developer, but it comes across with few different powerful options. You have an ability to edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript right in any web page.

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Alisa Miller has an excellent writeup on 50 tools to use if you want to protect yourself from Internet snoopers, want to spy on those out to get you, or want to be able to track trends that you know will lead to something big. All the tools listed are free or have a free trial.

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