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BasicsOpenAlt AI Labs

Set up a Gmail that works for you

A free starter challenge. Set up a Gmail account with a professional address, 2-step verification, recovery options and a signature, so it is safe to use for school, work and money.

  1. 1Learn
  2. 2Do
  3. 3Submit
  4. 4Results
Category
Basics
Lesson
15 min
Effort
~1h
Prize
Free
Closes in
 

Learn

15 min lesson

What you'll learn

How to set up a Gmail account that you can trust with school, work and money: one that is hard to break into, easy to recover, and looks professional when someone opens your message.

Pick an address you will not be embarrassed by

Your email address is often the first thing a teacher, an employer or a client sees. Use your name: aigerim.toktosunova@gmail.com or a.toktosunova@gmail.com. Avoid nicknames, birth years and long strings of numbers. If your name is taken, add a middle initial or a dot, not cool_girl_2009. You can keep your old address for friends and games; this one is for the serious things.

Lock it with 2-step verification

A password alone is not enough. Passwords leak, and the person who finds yours can read every message and reset every account linked to it. Turn on 2-step verification in your Google Account under Security. After that, a new sign-in also needs your phone. Use the Google prompt or an authenticator app when you can; SMS works too.

Make sure you can get back in

Add a recovery phone number and a recovery email address that is not this one. Then save the backup codes Google gives you and keep them somewhere offline, on paper at home or in a password manager. Most people lose accounts not to hackers but to a lost phone and no way back. Finish with the Security Checkup: it lists devices that are signed in and apps that have access. Remove anything you do not recognise.

Sign your messages

In Gmail settings, under General, add a signature: your full name, what you do (for example "Student, School No. 61, Bishkek" or "Junior designer"), and one link, such as your LinkedIn or portfolio. Three lines are enough. No quotes, no pictures.

Send yourself a test

Write a short, polite email to yourself with a clear subject line, as if you were writing to a teacher or a company. Open it from your inbox and look at it the way a stranger would. Is the name right? Does the signature show?

Before you submit

Take screenshots of: the 2-step verification page showing it is on, the recovery options page, the signature settings, and the test email as it arrived. Hide your phone number, recovery email and backup codes before you upload anything. Blur or cover them; cropping is fine too. Put the screenshots in one Google Drive folder or Doc and share it with "Anyone with the link can view".

Finish the lesson to unlock submitting.

Sign in to start learning

Do

about 1h of work

The task

Almost everything you sign up for, from a university portal to a bank app to a job offer, goes through your email. If someone breaks into it, they can reset every other account. If you lose access, you lose all of it. In this challenge you set up a Gmail account the way a careful professional would: an address with your name, 2-step verification turned on, a recovery phone and email, backup codes stored offline, a short signature, and a test email to yourself to see how you look to others. You can use an account you already have, as long as it ends up meeting every criterion.

Deliverables

  1. 01A screenshot of 2-step verification turned on
  2. 02A screenshot of the recovery options page, with the phone number and recovery email hidden
  3. 03A screenshot of your Gmail signature settings
  4. 04A screenshot of the test email you sent to yourself, as it arrived in your inbox
  5. 05All screenshots in one shared Google Drive folder or Doc

Acceptance criteria

Judged against exactly these

  • The address is built from your name, without nicknames, birth years or random numbers
  • 2-step verification is shown as on
  • A recovery phone and a recovery email are set, and both are hidden in the screenshots
  • The signature has your full name, one line on what you do, and at most one link
  • The test email has a clear subject line, a polite short body and the signature showing
  • No password, backup code, full phone number or recovery address is visible anywhere in the submission

Rules

  • Complete the lesson first. The submit form unlocks once you mark it done.
  • Submit a link to your work: a public GitHub repo or PR for code challenges; YouTube, Google Drive or Docs, Figma, Notion or a live site for everything else.
  • AI tools are allowed and encouraged. Plagiarised or copied work is disqualified.
  • The work must be made during the challenge window. For code, the commit history must show it.
  • An AI reviewer pre-scores every entry against the acceptance criteria. A human makes the final decision.
  • On payout, Alt AI Labs receives a licence to use the winning work (MIT for code). Non-winning entries stay yours.
  • Do not include secrets, API keys or anyone's personal data.
  • If you are under the minimum age for a Google account in your country, do this with a parent through Google Family Link.
emailaccount-securitydigital-basics

Submit

Sign in and complete the lesson to submit. Entry is free.

Sign in

Results

  1. 01

    AI pre-score

    AI reviews your write-up against the acceptance criteria. It cannot open your link, so explain your work clearly.

  2. 02

    Human decision

    A human reviews the work itself and makes the final call. The AI score is advisory.

  3. 03

    Win

    There is no cash prize. Winning work is shown to the organization behind the challenge.

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Alt AI Labs