Google unveiled an updated web version of its Gmail software on April 25 and is gradually rolling out the new features and visual redesign to regular and business users. If your account has not been updated yet (or you chose not to try out the new version when first offered), click on the gear-shaped Settings icon and choose “Try the new Gmail” at the top of the menu. In addition to a revamped look that sports bigger buttons and menus, the update adds features intended to help you manage your mail.

If you still have the old version of Gmail (or skipped the first invitation to try the update), click the Settings icon to get your chance to try out the service’s new look and features.

One of these new tools is the “nudge” feature, which uses algorithms to track messages you have not yet returned to your regular correspondents after a few days — and moves those unanswered messages to the top of your inbox with a gentle reminder to reply. (If you find this sort of software-based intervention creepy, you can turn off the nudge action in the Gmail settings.)

If you use the Gmail or Inbox by Gmail mobile apps, you will recognize the Smart Reply feature, which supplies short, canned phrases to send as responses to certain messages. The web version adopts the Snooze optionfor postponing attention to a message, too. Google’s calendar, notes and tasks apps also appear in the mail window for easy access.

Google has also stepped up Gmail’s security, with bigger warnings about suspicious messages. If you are sending sensitive information, you can also use the new Confidential mode by clicking the padlock-and-clock icon at the bottom of the new message window. By using the options in the Confidential mode, you can require a passcode sent to your recipient’s phone in order to open the message — and then have the message disappear in a day, a week, a month, three months or five years.

Google’s recent revamp of its Gmail service for desktop web browsers moves a few things around. In the previous version, you could switch to the contacts list by clicking the Gmail menu on the left side of the page, but that method no longer works once you update to the refreshed Gmail.

You can now get to the contacts page by clicking the Apps icon in the upper right corner of the Gmail inbox. When you click the Apps icon, which is a square made up of nine smaller squares, it unfolds to reveal a panel of icons for other Google programs and services, including Google Photos, Google News and YouTube.

In the updated version of Gmail for the desktop, you can get to your contacts from the Apps panel on the right side of the window, or by hovering the mouse cursor over a sender’s name until a contact card pops up.

If you do not immediately see the Contacts icon in the window, scroll through the panel until you find it. You can drag the Contacts icon to the top of the collection to find it more easily in the future, and can rearrange the other icons around it as you wish. Click the Contacts icon to open your address book.

If a scammer has swiped your password and is using your account to spew spam, take action and add measures to help stop it from happening again.

If you still have access to the compromised account, changing the password is one of many steps you should take to protect yourself. If you are having trouble regaining control of the account, visit your mail provider’s site for instructions on recovering your account. AppleGoogleMicrosoft and Yahoo all have guides on their sites, as should other email and internet service providers. Tell your friends that your account was hacked and to ignore any odd messages that appear to have come from you.

Your account may have been hacked through malicious software, so scan your computer for malware and viruses with a security program. If you do not have security software installed, you can use Microsoft’s built-in Windows Defender or Microsoft Security EssentialsAvast and AVG are among the many companies that make free basic antivirus software for Windows and Mac. Malwarebytes has free and trial versions of its malware-scanning program for Windows and Mac that can work alongside antivirus software. You should also update your computer and devices with the latest security updates.

Next, check your mail settings to make sure nothing has been changed — like copies of your messages set to forward to an unfamiliar addresses, unfamiliar entries in your address book, or new links or information added to your email signature file. Take this opportunity to change and update your security questions and answers that your provider uses to confirm your identity if you use the Forgot Password option.

Turning on an extra layer of protection for your email account, like Google’s two-step verification for Gmail, can help protect against hackers because you must confirm your identity with a smartphone app or text code after you enter your password.

While you are in your mail settings, set up two-factor authentication or two-step verification if you have not already and the feature is available from your mail provider. You will need to provide a code or acknowledge a login attempt on another device after you enter your password, but the extra step helps keep your account more secure.

If you have rescued your account and bolstered its defenses, you should be able to keep using the address as a login for other sites, but go in and change the password you used with it, along with all the other passwords for other sites where you used the address as your login. You should also update any site where you repeatedly used the same password as the one for the hacked mail account.