And NOW Google is being a prime nuisance

[Pixilated]

My desktop (Mac) periodically reboots itself (I think I have too many windows open ....)
It did so the other day and signed me out of EVERYTHING.
I have managed to sign myself back into a lot of things ... ... but I can't get back into anything that involves the use of my Gmail account and password.
The Gmail account itself. My YouTube. An online group for Mac users. And so on.

It's demanding a two-step verification (which I guess I signed up for) but without a functioning cellphone, I can't do that. I managed to contact Google (as well as one CAN contact a ginormous corporation) and they promised a response in 24 hours. Which I got. They said they had removed the 2-step verification requirement so I can just sign in.

But ... it's not gone. So I still can't sign in.

I've contacted them again (this time the same way I did the first time, as well as sending them feedback on how their 'contact us' works -- you need to sign in to access a lot of their "help" links but of course I can't sign in.

Anybody got any further suggestions, or am I just at the mercy of Google?

I can access the Gmail and YouTube on my cellphone, thank goodness. Said cellphone "does" WiFi just fine; I just don't have any kind of plan at the moment so can't make or receive calls, texts, and so on.

[RealUnimportant]

if you're still logged in on the phone, you should still be able to access the account settings on that phone and see if 2-factor is still on, and disable it yourself (or change it from SMS to some other variety) if it is. Similarly, if you're able to log into the other non-Google accounts that need Google on the phone, you should be able to log into them and change them so they don't need Google any more, well apart from YouTube because they're the same company and you'll never completely get away from having to use a Google account there.

[Arcus]

Google just did the same to me only now It requires me to allow them to text me any time I want to read my email... Even if I had just been looking at it 5 minutes earlier. No option to change it.

[Pixilated]

if you're still logged in on the phone, you should still be able to access the account settings on that phone and see if 2-factor is still on, and disable it yourself (or change it from SMS to some other variety) if it is. Similarly, if you're able to log into the other non-Google accounts that need Google on the phone, you should be able to log into them and change them so they don't need Google any more, well apart from YouTube because they're the same company and you'll never completely get away from having to use a Google account there.

Thank you. I was still logged in on my cellphone, but I was afraid if I tried to use the 'sign in' function there it would log me off there too and then I'd be out in the void somewhere.

My second plea to Google resulted in my being able to log back in on my desktop, so all is fine now.

I'm just wondering why on earth I got logged out in the first place. It's not the first time this has happened although it is rather rare.

[Pixilated]

Google just did the same to me only now It requires me to allow them to text me any time I want to read my email... Even if I had just been looking at it 5 minutes earlier. No option to change it.

Ye gods, that must be FRUSTRATING. And you're not getting any responses to your pleas for help?

[Arcus]

I just get canned responses about how to set up 2-factor authentication. I don't think their automated system is able to understand that I'm trying to tell them the 2-factor isn't working right.