free email options (AKA WTF YAHOO!?)

sassandgroove

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ok so I have a yahoo account. I've had it for years. I am not particularly happy with yahoo but I have emails I want to keep. I pay $20 a year for unlimited storage and no ads.

recently a friend here at AW said yahoo deleted her account without warning for violation of terms of service but won't tell her what violation and won't restore the account or even give her the contacts.

WTF, yahoo, WTF!?!

SO yeah, I'm thinking they don't need my money anymore.
but who to I move to? gmail seems the easiest option, with a migration tool to move all my precious emails over, but couldn't they do the same thing that yahoo did?

I looked up free email options and outlook.com looks like a good possibility too.

Any suggestions?
 

cbenoi1

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> I have emails I want to keep. I pay $20 a year for
> unlimited storage and no ads.

I have an assortment of email accounts: yahoo, gmail, hotmail, outlook, office, etc. They all feed into the gmail account which is set to pull everyone else's emails when I log into into it. gmail is a bit better at filtering out the spam than the others.


yahoo ---+
hotmail --+-->>-- gmail
outlook --+
office ----+
etc ------+

I then have Microsoft Outlook as my client. All my emails are pulled from gmail through the IMAP protocol and sorted locally. I never fill up to the server's limit. I never see any of the pesky ads. Everything is centralized. And it's all free to me.

On the down side, I have to do my own backups which is not a huge deal. I also have to log onto each email server from time to time and clean up the spams, which not a huge deal either.

Hope this helps.

-cb
 

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I would avoid ymail; yes, I know it's tangentially connected with yahoo (it's not the same as [email protected]) because a number of my Sys Admin colleagues and I have noted it's becoming the most common address used by would-be spammers—seconded by rocketmail.com, also owned by Yahoo, but hosted on different servers.

Gmail has worked well for me, but I am very aware that they can be as capricious as Yahoo, and have been.

I have heard very good things about FastMail, a paid service but not unreasonable in its fees:

https://www.fastmail.fm/
 

robjvargas

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My Web host provider includes email via my domain as part of the service.

If you're already paying for something like that.
 
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wandering

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I'd suggest Gmail if you really need "free" email accounts. However, the best is to get a web host and use the free email there. The web host does charge and you may not want a website, but that email address will look a lot more professional. Some places will ignore the "free" accounts. JMO
 

Wilde_at_heart

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I use gmx.com because I like the layout and for new accounts they don't demand a cell phone number.
Although I have an older outlook.com account, I'm not sure how much longer they'll let me use it for without making me fill in more private info.
 
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sassandgroove

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if I linked my yahoo mail to my outlook on my computer and copy the emails to the outlook data file, does that mean the emails are now on my computer?
 

cbenoi1

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With Outlook, unless you have set the account to erase the emails on the server once you make a local copy, that email is still on the server and taking up space. IIRC, by default emails are left on the server. It's a setup fail safe. This is the case for POP3 accounts; I don't remember if this is the case for MAPI / IMAP accounts. You need to explicitly set a check box in the account settings to remove emails from the server.

ETA: For those monitoring this thread who don't have Outlook (or won't fork money to buy it), you might want to check Mozilla Thunderbird as a free multi-platform email client.

-cb
 
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sassandgroove

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Cbenoi
I didn't really follow that post.
I have outlook on my computer
I set it up for my yahoo with imap
I noticed that it has two inboxes, outlook data file and yahoo
I can copy folders from the yahoo inbox to the outlook data file, but I don't know what that accomplishes. Are those emails now on my computer? That is my goal, to archive my emails. Thanks.
 

cbenoi1

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> I have outlook on my computer

Same. Office 2010 version.


> I set it up for my yahoo with imap

Same but with gmail for me.

IMAP is a communications protocol that makes Outlook & Yahoo behave like Dropbox (or Google Drive) in that both Outlook and the Yahoo email server are kept in sync.

POP3 is an older protocol. Don't bother with it.


> I noticed that it has two inboxes, outlook data file and yahoo

I have an Inbox for my gmail account as well. It is replicated in the favorites above. So I have twice the same entry. I also have Personal Folders that are outlook data file to which I copy the mails I want to keep.


> I can copy folders from the yahoo inbox to the
> outlook data file, but I don't know what that accomplishes.

There should be a "Send/Receive All Folders" button on the upper right corner of the menu bar.

It's a big sync.


> Are those emails now on my computer?

Yes. Through the IMAP protocol, both Outlook and the Yahoo server are kept in sync.


> That is my goal, to archive my emails.

Outlook data files (aka 'Personal Folders') is what Outlook uses as a file format to store the emails. There is one file created by default, but you can create more personal folders if you want to store your emails by theme or project or whatever.

You should look for ".pst" files in your user directory (aka "c:/users/<yourname>/"). That's where the default one has been created ... somewhere deep in some lost directory.

Those ".pst" files need be backed up.

I suggest you create your own personal folders in a sub-directory easier to find. I've put all mine in a directory called "OUTLOOK" in my "Documents" directory and added the reference to my automated backup utility. Thus, once in a while, the contents of "Documents/OUTLOOK" is saved on a backup drive.

-cb
 

robjvargas

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Those PST files are buried a couple of folders deeper in that location, cbenoi1. But basically, you're right.
 

alexaherself

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I have heard very good things about FastMail, a paid service but not unreasonable in its fees:

https://www.fastmail.fm/

I've used FastMail for many years (both "personal" and "business") and have been entirely happy with their services. I originally started using them when they had a free service, after they'd won some independent PC/Web magazine awards, but I've gradually upgraded, over the years, to their highest level of paid services (and been happy to).
 

Reziac

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I use gmx.com because I like the layout and for new accounts they don't demand a cell phone number.
Although I have an older outlook.com account, I'm not sure how much longer they'll let me use it for without making me fill in more private info.

Seconding GMX as a free email host (GMX is owned by 1&1). They've been extremely reliable for a VERY long time as internet stuff goes -- I have a friend in Germany who's been using it since it was new in 1997, with ZERO problems.

GMX will also work with POP3, tho I haven't been arsed to set it up myself.

http://www.gmx.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GMX_Mail
GMX.com email has unlimited email storage.

If you want file storage plus email, 1&1 has inexpensive accounts too. Shameless affiliate link:

http://www.1and1.com/?kwk=6761404

[I've had hosting, domains, and email with 1&1 for over 10 years now, still super happy with 'em.]
 

WriteMinded

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When Opera shut down their email app, I just forwarded the stored emails to my other account. Lately I've been using gmx.com . . . but I have others. :)
 

Avatar_fan

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I think gmail is your best bet. It's given me the least amount of trouble when querying if you're in that phase.
 

AW Admin

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GMX is not looked upon fondly by sys admins; they do not respond to Abuse notifications and GMX accounts are frequently used by spammers who bulk register IDs and then create nine more GMX accounts for each ID.
 

Chris P

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I have nothing to contribute, just reading for interest and now some confusion. I have literally thousands of emails in various folders in my Yahoo account, and have never paid a dime. Adblock Plus is a champ at keeping out ads, so no worries there. The only thing I wish Yahoo did that I'm told gmail does is allow you to export the emails as text files to your hard drive.

Or am I missing something really obvious here? What do you need done that the free version of Yahoo doesn't already do?
 
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Or am I missing something really obvious here? What do you need done that the free version of Yahoo doesn't already do?

See the OP: she's taking her email and her money elsewhere in protest.
 

sassandgroove

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well first I think I asked the wrong question. I want to archive my emails but I don't trust google anymore than yahoo. I've linked my yahoo email to my outlook program and I am going to try copying the outlook data file and seeing if that works. Then I can archive my old emails and start using an email address I have but don't really use through our dsl subscription. I appreciate everyone who posted (and reppies). thanks.
 

robjvargas

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Sass, and everyone, I don't recall what version of Outlook you're using. Since you're talking about storing historical email.

Outlook 2007 (I believe it was) made some changes to the PST file functions. In version 2000 and before (possibly 2003 as well), the PST file used the "Jet" database engine, basically the same code as Microsoft Access. Anything prior to version 2007 could corrupt the PST file if it grew beyond two gigabytes (2GB) in size. And fixes were not reliable.

If you've got 2007 or newer, I think you're okay. If not, I recommend taking advantage of Outlook's Autoarchive function to move older emails to a different PST file. It's a good idea, I think, even on the newer versions.
 

sassandgroove

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Thanks! I have 2010. I tried it yesterday and the file was gibberish so I don't know. I'll check out your link today. I'm on my iPhone right now. Appreciate the help.