Back at the beginning of August Google unveiled a new service called "Android Device Manager" that let you locate and remotely wipe your phones and tablets, and now the service is getting a some much-needed refinement. Today Google updated ADM to include options to apply and change lock screen PINs and passwords, adding to the nuclear option of remote wiping the device completely. Just as we covered when the service launched, enabling ADM is extremely easy. To get started, go to google.com/android/devicemanager on your computer and go through your list of devices that are connected to your Google account. Once there, you can send a notification to the device you want to enable remote password application and wiping on, and you'll be just a few steps away from a much more secure phone.

Simply tap on the notification you receive or manually go to the Google Settings app on your phone, tap on "Android Device Manager" and select the box for "Allow remote lock and factory reset." You'll be given a permission screen (shown above) that lets you know Android Device Manager will now be a "Device Administrator" on your phone — this gives you the proper permissions to be able to manage your device from afar, which is a good thing. One you've checked the boxes, head back to the ADM web interface and refresh the page, where you'll now see two more options light up under the status of that device. Next to "Ring" you'll now have the new option to "Lock" as well as the old option of "Erase." Clicking on Lock will bring up a dialogue box that lets you enable a PIN or password on your phone, even if you have no security on the phone before that point.