Change AOL security question and secret answer

New security question for your AOL account

When you first signed up for an AOL account / email address, you had to choose a secret question and pick a corresponding answer: this answer, ideally, is known only to you, or at least only to people you really trust, since it allows you to reset your account password if you lost or forgot it, and in most cases, to regain access to your account if it was hacked. Especially if you have accessed your AOL profile or email account from a shared or public computer (like at the library, work, or school), you should change that security question. As often with online security, the most convenient is also the least secure :) But you'll see, the whole process is over in under two minutes!

Quick Steps to edit your AOL account's secret question / answer:

1 Go to www.aol.com and login.
2 Click on Options in the top right corner, and select "Account Info".
3 Confirm your current password and security answer.
4 Click on the Edit link next to "Security Question".
5 Select another question and type the new answer.
6 Click Save.

Access your AOL account settings

Customize your AOL account If you are logged into AOL Mail, click on the Options dropdown in the top right corner, and choose "Account Info". Do the same from any other AOL.com web page - the menu will look slightly different, but Account Info will also be at the top.

A new page will open: make sure that it isn't blocked by your popup blocker (tip: in Internet Explorer, hold down the Ctrl and Alt keys on your keyboard, while clicking the Account Info link, to temporarily override the popup blocker!) Type your account password, answer your current security question, and click OK: Answer your current AOL security question

Note: if you answer incorrectly, you'll get a "The answer you entered is incorrect. Please try again" error message. Try once or twice more, but then click on the I forgot my answer to go through the account recovery process: giving the wrong answer too many times risks having your account temporarily blocked (a security measure designed to fend off hacking attempts!)

Pick a new secret question and answer

When the next page has loaded, click on the Edit link next to "Security Question" (it is under the second section, "Account Recovery Information"). Notice that AOL shows you the last time your question was changed - if it doesn't seem right, make sure to change your password right away. Change AOL security question

Currently, AOL doesn't let you pick your own question, but you can choose from 5 different ones. Here's a quick overview of the real security of each of them:

Name of your first school - this information is known by hundreds of people.
Childhood nickname - people close enough to know the answer are hopefully trustworthy!
Favorite childhood book - if you can settle on a single book that you'll remember picking as answer, this is a very good security question.
City in which your parents met - good question too, since very few know that answer, and those who do are probably not people you should be worried about.
Name of your first pet - many childhood friends might remember this answer. Who is still part of your life, and whom you trust, will determine the best pick for you.

Tip: our advice? always type secret answers in all-lowercase letters (that way, you never have to remember whether or not you capitalized your first school's name!) Online account providers don't always make these answers  case-insensitive. Also, avoid spaces.

Save your new setting

Once you've picked a question, type the secret answer and click on the Save button: as confirmation, double-check that the new question is now showing, next to today's date: Updated security question! Once you've confirmed that it does, you can safely close this browser window / tab.

Change AOL security question and secret answer

Access your AOL account settings

Pick a new secret question and answer

Save your new setting

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