3.2. Recommendations
Make the most of the synchronization possibilities offered by Google applications. A Google account (a UOC e-mail account is also a Google account) is linked to several applications (e.g. Gmail, Drive, Chrome, Calendar, Documents, Presentations, Spreadsheets, Forms, Google Sites, Blogger, YouTube, Hangouts, Google Search, Google Maps, Google Analytics, etc.) that offer useful synchronization possibilities. A Google account will help manage the way in which applications synchronize e-mails, messages and other recent information in several devices. By default, Google applications will be automatically synchronized in all devices, but there is always the option to disable (or enable back again) automatic synchronization in each application individually. If, at one time, battery is running low on a device, disabling automatic synchronization will help save battery.
Properly manage the privacy of the information synchronized in the Internet browser. The main Internet browsers (e.g. Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Safari) make it possible to synchronize information regarding the user’s profile (bookmarks, browsing history, etc.) by storing it in its corresponding account (Google, Mozilla, Microsoft, iCloud). If you do not want to synchronize all content, you may choose which data you would like to store and later on synchronize. When using Chrome, in case you do not want Google to read your data, you may protect them through a password sentence for synchronization, which will be requested in order to access the account from each device. Besides, it should be noted that synchronized data will always be protected by encryption while in transit.
Use synchronization applications between devices with different operating systems. Applications that enable synchronization between devices with different operating systems are becoming more and more popular. The application “Phone complement by Microsoft” is an example of that. It offers the possibility to automatically transfer content between a Windows 10 PC and several mobile devices that use iOS or Android operating systems and includes the synchronization of Office and Outlook documents. Another option is the virtual assistant Cortana, a Microsoft application available for iOS and Android that enables synchronizing these two operating systems with Windows-based operating systems.