Creating a Google Account

Introduction:

Creating a Google Account is fairly simple. You'll need to provide some basic information like your name, age and location. Once you create and verify your account, you'll be able to use Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google+, and many other services.

Creating an Account

In order to create a Google account, you'll need to enter some information, like your name, birthdate, and location. Creating a Google account will automatically create a Gmail (Google Mail) email address and a Google+ profile, as well. Using Gmail, Google's free email service,or Google+, Google's social network, is completely optional, so don't feel obligated to use these services.

If you have a Gmail address, you already have a Google Account, so you won't need to create an account—you can simply sign in to Google using your Gmail information.

To Create a Google Account:
1. Go to www.google.com.

2. Click the Sign in button in the top-right corner of the page. Clicking Sign in

3. Click Sign Up or Create an account for free. Clicking Sign Up

4. The Create a new Google Account form will appear.Creating a new Google Account form

5. You will now need to enter your information into the form. Type your first name and last name.

6. Type the Google username you want to use. This will be both your Google Account name and Gmail address. Google checks the availability of the username to make sure that name hasn't already been taken.Typing your Google username

7. Type your desired password. Just like with any online service, it's important to choose a strong password—in other words, one that is difficult for someone to guess. When you type your desired password, Gmail will tell you whether it is strong enough, and if it's not strong enough you can modify it. For more information, check out Passwords: The First Step to Safety in our Internet Safety tutorial. Creating a strong password

8. Enter your birthday month, day, and year. If you prefer not to give out your birthday, you can enter a random date. Select your gender. Typing Birthday and selecting Gender

9. Optional: If you would like for Google to text you your password if you ever forget it or need to reset it, enter your Mobile phone number. This is not required to sign up for a Google Account.

10. Optional: If you would like for Google to help keep your account secure by emailing you if there is unusual activity happening with your account, enter an alternate email address in the Other email address box.Fields for contact information

11. Next, you will need to enter the verification text. You will also need to select your location. Typing the verification text and selecting Location

12. Review the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy and check the box to accept.

13. Review the About personalization link and check the box if you would like to participate in Google +1 content and ads. We will leave the box empty.

14. Click Next step to continue.Agreeing to Terms of Service

15. The Create your profile page will appear. Click Add Profile Photo if you wish to add a photo to your Google+ profile. If you do not want a profile photo at this time, click Next step. You can add a profile photo later, if you change your mind. Continuing to the next step

16. The Google welcome page will appear. This page will help explain the basics of your Google account and remind you of your new Google username and Gmail address The Google welcome page

17. You have completed the sign up process. Click Get started. You will be redirected to www.google.com. Clicking Get started

Source: http://www.gcflearnfree.org/googleaccount/2.2

Getting to Know Google

Introduction

Google is probably best known as a search engine, since that's how it started out. But today, Google provides many different services that you can use to do various tasks at home or at work. To use these services, like Gmail or Google Calendar, you'll need to create an account so that Google has a place to save your data and settings.

Popular Google Services

You've probably done a Google search before—you may have even done thousands. You may have also used the Google News search, Image search, Maps, or Translate. But Google has many, many more services that you can use. In order to use them, you'll first need to sign up for a Google Account.

What can you do With a Google Account?

Google Docs:
Don't have Microsoft Office? No Problem - you can use Google Docs to create documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and drawing directly in your browser. you can then choose to share them with other people, or keep them private.

Google Calendar:
With Google Calendar, you can have access to your calendar from any computer that has an internet connection. you can even view and edit your calendar from many mobile devices. since the calendar is online, you can choose to share your schedule with friends or co-workers, and you can have it send reminders to you via eamil or text messages.

iGoogle:
You can set up your own iGoogle homepage, which you can access from any computer that's connected to the internet. you can customize it with different themes and gadgets. Many of the gadgets allow you to view information from google Calendar, Google Docs, and other Google Services. of course, you can also do Google searches from your iGoogle page.

Google Reader:
If you read a lot of blogs or other websites, you can bring them all into one place using Google Reader. Like email, it keeps track of which things you've read, so you can focus on new items.

Google Checkout:
Many online stores use Google checkout to handle things like payments and shipping. Than means you don't have to create a seperate account for each store: you can just use Google Checkout, which keeps everything as simple and secure as possible.

Picasa Web Albums:
You can use Picasa web albums to share your photos with all of your friends, or you can just share specific photos with one or two of your friends. The donwloadable Picasa software makes it easy to find the photos on your computer, edit them, and upload the ones you want.

Source: http://www.gcflearnfree.org/googleaccount/1.2