They will eventually reconnect and appear as another open location once again. On the other hand, if you have mobile devices like I do that are configured to automatically re-login, kicking them off this way doesn’t do anything. Now, if that other location is a person who does not have your permission to access the account and they don’t know your password, you just kicked them off, which is great. If multiple device logins make you nervous and you close the other locations, all that really does is force the other locations to have to re-login. Coincidentally, all have the same IP address here at my home. Depending on my usage pattern and how long Google keeps track, it may look like Gmail is open from five different locations.
For me, at any point in time, my Gmail account could be open on my desktop PC, my laptop, a Mac, my Android-based phone, or my Amazon Kindle. If you’re using different devices to access Gmail, you may also see more than one device listed. For instance, if you’re running Thunderbird on a computer and you’re running a web browser on the same computer to access the same email, those may appear as two different “locations.” Multiple devices means multiple places I’m not familiar with the technical details of how Mailwasher accesses your mail, but you’ve listed at least two different locations.Įven if you’re accessing email from the same computer or your email apps are referencing the same IP address, they are technically two different locations. About that “Open in other locations” messageįrom your question, you indicated that you’re using three methods to get email: Mailwasher, Thunderbird, and web access. and there’s a login from China or Nigeria), then I know that something is wrong and I need to take action. And I know that if I ever see a location that I’ve never been to accessing my Gmail account (say you’re in Seattle and all of the sudden there’s a login from Miami or you’re in the U.S. When you’re traveling, it’s kind of fun to see where Gmail thinks you’ve been accessing it. It’s one of the reasons why I really like the feature. So this is a quick way to find out if your account has been accessed from someplace other than where you expect. The Activity Information window has interesting data because when an account gets hacked or compromised, it’s usually happening from overseas.
This is really neat feature – one that can ultimately protect your Gmail account from hackers.
For instance, if I was logged into Gmail and opened the Activity Information window, I’d see that I’m accessing it from my IP address, which is somewhere in the United States. When you click the link, Gmail opens an Activity Information window which displays what the access type was, what the IP address was, and the date of the access. If you have a Gmail account and you log in, there’s a link in the lower right corner that either reads “The latest activity was # minutes ago” or “Open in # of other places” followed by a Details link.