Email

[Lona]

Usually when I move providers, I can still receive incoming mail from my old provider.

Zen seems to have stopped allowing me to receive emails and I haven't got around to changing all the sites that use that address.

Is there any way Idnet can retreive my emails which may be outstanding since I left Zen.?

[Lance]

I'm afraid I think the answer is no. Have you tried using Zen's webmail to make sure the account is no longer available?

[Rik]

Unfortunately, no, Lona. To do that, you'd need access to your Zen account, which IDNet don't have. 

I use my own domain, hosted by 1&1, for that reason. If I move ISP, my mail stays the same. Another option would be to use Google Mail, or one of the other services such as Hotmail, Yahoo or Mail.com.

[Lona]

Too bad.  Thing is Zen allowed me to use my old account from previous isp both incoming and outgoing which was great as It saved me changing everything.

I must see if I can logon to Zen.  Thing is I've forgotten my email password.

[Rik]

An ISP doesn't control whether you can log on to your previous ISP's mail servers, Lona, that's entirely under the control of the previous ISP. Some downgrade your account to dial-up and allow you to continue to access mail, others simply cut everything off. Presumably you have the old address in your email client and it's reporting a login error? What client do you use?

[Lona]

An ISP doesn't control whether you can log on to your previous ISP's mail servers, Lona, that's entirely under the control of the previous ISP. Some downgrade your account to dial-up and allow you to continue to access mail, others simply cut everything off. Presumably you have the old address in your email client and it's reporting a login error? What client do you use?

Yep, outlook express is asking for my user name and password. I guess I have well and truly been given the boot.

[Rik]

It sounds like it. Download mailpv from here:

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/mailpv.html

Run it and it will give you the password. You can then try the webmail interface.

[Sebby]

Yep, it certainly sounds like your account is closed, including email, lona. Some ISPs leave your email account open for a little while, but it seems Zen have closed it with the rest of your account.

As others have mentioned, getting your own domain and mail package can be a great idea for this exact reason. I'm not suggesting you'd want to leave IDNet for a minute  but it would save any hassle in future, whatever the situation. With someone like 1&1, it costs around £10/year.

[Dangerjunkie]

Hi Iona,

Welcome to the gang.

I use a provider called Supanames ( http://www.supanames.com ) for my website and email. Their service has always been good for me and the prices are very attractive. I would recommend one of their Linux hosting plans for reliability and price (It doesn't matter that you use Windows at home. It will work for you just as well.) I bought my own .co.uk domain and all my received email comes through that. When I get my migration to IDNet in a about 10 days I change my mail sending server to IDNet's one and then just carry on with the email address I have. This means I can change ISP as often as I like and never have to worry about losing my email address.

I notice you're using Outlook Express. I've found that Outlook Express is less than ideal from a security point of view and can allow viruses into your machine. I would recommend you check out Thunderbird ( http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/ ) which is, in my experience, a much better program.

Good luck,
Paul.

[Sebby]

Good suggestion, Paul. Outlook Express is quite out of date now. Vista is better because it comes with Windows Mail (the new version of Outlook Express), which has junk mail filtering and some other security enhancements.

I used to use Thunderbird and it's a great client.

[Rik]

What do you use now, Sebby?

[Sebby]

Outlook, Rik. I bought Office 2003 a few years ago, and more recently Office 2007.

[Rik]

Same here - only in my case, MS insisted on giving them to me.

[Sebby]

That was very generous of them, Rik. 

[Rik]

I thought so. All I had to do was complete a series of questionnaires over a year. It took me about an hour each time (for the set), and on the last one, I got both Office 2007 Ultimate and Vista Ultimate.

Lance has already asked me to try to get him in if they ask me to participate again.

[Sebby]

Given the price of Office, it's certainly not too bad to have to do a few questionnaires. Good deal.

[Rik]

If I get an open invitation, I'll let you know.

[Sebby]

Thanks, Rik. 8)

[Malc]

Same here - only in my case, MS insisted on giving them to me.

Somebody gave me a copy too 

[Rik]

A legit one?

[Malc]

Can't remember

[Simon]

Taking the fifth, Malc? 

[Malc]

Who?  Me?   

[Lance]

Of course, Sebby, being students we can buy Office 2007 ultimate using the regular special offer for only £39.99 anyway!

[Rik]

Time for me to do an OU course.

[Lona]

Good suggestion, Paul. Outlook Express is quite out of date now. Vista is better because it comes with Windows Mail (the new version of Outlook Express), which has junk mail filtering and some other security enhancements.

I used to use Thunderbird and it's a great client.

I should have said it was Vista Mail I use which in my opinion is just like an updated outlook express.

I've managed to change the important sites that had my Zen address but what is worrying me is , the Zen address is listed as my primary address in Paypal and I have sales ending today on Ebay and it's not allowed to revise a listing after you have received bids.

If I delete the Zen address on paypal, folks won't be able to pay me so I've left it for now but put idnet address in as the Primary one.

I'll just have to wait and see what happens at the end of today.

[Rik]

I do think you'd benefit from registering a domain, Lona, the cost is small, but it gives you two independent mail channels, one of which doesn't change when you move ISP. Being me, of course, I've also got GMail, Yahoo, Mail.com and a couple of others.