Yahoo!7 Mail & Messenger Blog

Log in securely with Sign-In Seals

February 24th, 2009 Filed in: Security 6 comments

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Following on from our last post about spotting online scams, we thought we’d let you know about a fantastic feature for logging into any Yahoo!7 product more securely – Sign-In Seals.

When signing in to Yahoo!7, you will no doubt be familiar with the yellow box directly above where you input your login details. This is the Sign-In Seal.

To start the creation process, simply click upon the key symbol or upon the “Create your sign-in seal” link, as demonstrated above. The entire process will only take a minute or so of your time, well worth it for peace of mind!

Once you have elected to create a sign-in seal, you are presented with two options:

• Create a text seal
• Upload an image

Creating a text seal
To create a text seal, simply select the “Create a text seal” option.

You will then be shown 3 text boxes in which to input your message, you may fit more than one word per box, as we have shown in the example. In total, your message may not exceed 21 characters. It is not recommended that the message be either your Yahoo! id or your password; instead perhaps choose your address, names of your family members or pets, a favourite artist or saying. The important thing is – choose something that you will remember and know instantly that you are signing in securely.

Clicking the preview option will give you a view of how your seal will appear, clicking save will return you to the sign in screen and your seal will appear ready for use.

Creating an image seal
To create an image seal, simply select the “Upload an image” option.

You will then be shown a box, with a browse option from which to navigate your computer and select your image of choice. You may wish to use a photo of a family member or favourite pet, or something else entirely; the choice is up to you. The important thing is to choose something that is instantly recognisable to you.

As with the text seal creation, clicking the preview option will give you a view of how your seal will appear and clicking save will return you to the sign in screen; and your seal will appear ready for use.

Sign-in seal colour
To further customise your sign-in seal, you have the option to choose from a range of colours. As seen in the examples previously shown, you can see the use of purple in the image border and the text seal background.

If you are interested in reading further about Sign-In Seals, check out our FAQ page.

So what are you waiting for? Why not spend a few moments to create your sign-in seal and relax!

Happy creating,
Kate – Yahoo!7 Mail Team