A Live Mail account comes in handy!

More and more it seems that the BTYahoo logon page is locking me out by saying that my password/email address is invalid. I know it's not, but interestingly Live Mail will get me in. After a while the web site decides that I'm OK and lets me log on. I would recommend anyone who often has trouble with webmail access to set up a Live account (or similar) as an emergency backup, as this seems to bypass the gremlins every time. Anyone know why this happens? Presumably different pathways to the Yahoo servers?

Are you referring to Windows Live mail? So you're saying use a mail client to access the mail via POP3 instead of BT webmail?

Not really. I'm saying have one ready and set up as a reserve, as access is fine even when the webmail site throws a wobbly. I seem to get locked out about once a month for short periods (like yesterday) when it won't accept my details. Actually, I quite like the Windows Live Mail interface as it's less fiddly than the BTYahoo webpage. I know that most people use Outlook etc. instead of the website though, although I suspect that many older users especially just stick with what BT sets up for them.

In reply to a post by GeoffB:

I suspect that many older users especially just stick with what BT sets up for them.

As an "older-user" I would always prefer to use a proper Email Client, rather than Web-Mail.

The only time I would want to use Web-Mail is when I'm away from my PC. Under these circumstances, I simply want to access my Mail & NOT have to try to delve through all of the Yahoo junk to get to it! Hence, I'm not impressed with BT's offerings on this!

I'm in my sixties, so I wasn't being rude! I've tried to zap all the advertising on the webmail page, but it's very persistent!

I'm not quite sure why anyone uses BT mail (or any other ISP mail offering) other than for details required by the ISP. They don't seem to offer any advantage over the free ones such as gmail, and make it much more difficult to change ISP when you wish.

Obviously different setup suit different people. I use gmail as my main provider; and have done through three or four ISPs (one of whom, BE, didn't even offer me email). I forward any mail from my BT email to gmail.

I used to use Thunderbird/IMAP almost exclusively. I now mostly use gmail web client because it has much better search than Thunderbird. I still use Thunderbird to ensure I have offline backup in case of issues with broadband or gmail service. Also for quick viewing of bulk mail such as spam; it is much faster to eyeball and delete say 200 messages on Thunderbird than on web client.

Did you know that using Gmail, hotmail or any other mail like this causes a higher score in fraud engines used by online retailers? Same goes if you only have a mobile number rather than a land line.

To clarify, I think you are saying that you use your Windows Live Mail (WLM) client on your PC to access your BTYahoo email a/c whenever you have trouble logging into this email a/c using Webmail.

There is no connection between logging using POP3 or IMAP that WLM uses and logging in online on the Web, particularly as with WLM you have the advantage that your login credentials are stored so you don't need to type them every time.

Why only use WLM "in reserve as emergency" anyway? It is a far cleaner, faster and more reliable method for accessing your email a/c's than webmail.

Even ancient users will prefer email clients like WLM in preference to webmail, particularly as the webmail access is relatively recent; in the beginning there were only email clients .

I read somewhere that you should disable the option to store your password in POP3 mail programs (for obvious reasons). I agree with what you say, but I usually change my password/security details about once a month and use the web page for that.

In reply to a post by GeoffB:

you should disable the option to store your password in POP3 mail programs (for obvious reasons).

Which are? Someone can nick your PC and hack your Windows User login? Your mail client's passwords are not displayed in clear, just blobs.

I had a colleague who had a laptop stolen with lots of stored passwords in various programs. He thought he was safe but decided to change them about 3 days later. Guess what!! That was in the days of XP which had a hidden Admin account that had no password by default. Not too sure if 7 and 8 have the same setup.

In reply to a post by GeoffB:

Guess what!! That was in the days of XP which had a hidden Admin account that had no password by default. Not too sure if 7 and 8 have the same setup.

Which raises the question, how secure are OS? Hackers today find ways to get to passwords and more, they are programmers after all!

You can have a password on any account, just Inset windows recovery CD and you can remove the password...

Administrator accounts by default don't require a password, though you have the option to set one when installing the OS.

It's best to use password manager software that encrypts your password.

Edited by deleted (Fri 19-Apr-13 19:35:23)

Do Win7/8 have a hidden unprotected Admin account?

I agree with you mainly except, that I think people should get a real address from a provider such as 1&1 that people can recognise as you, they don't cost that much, a few pounds every 2 years for a .co.uk or .me.uk address, then have anything else forwarded to that address, by all means set up a free gmail, as well

Also by setting up your own address means that you can use different names in front of the @MyName.me.uk so other members of your family can have their own address and you can use a special ones for all the web sites you visit, I tend to use things like [email protected], it's a good way to find out if they are selling your details/have bad security.

I still use Thunderbird/IMAP for my every day use and only use webmail for when I am away from home, I think TB has a better filtering system.

I haven't used ISP mail addresses for outgoing mail since ISDN (HH) first became available

PS Over 60

Edited by The_Voyager (Sat 20-Apr-13 09:49:16)

In reply to a post by GeoffB:

Do Win7/8 have a hidden unprotected Admin account?

Win7 has an administrator account but its disabled and unusable, unless you manually go in and enable it. Don't know Win8 but expect the same.

In corporate we enable this account, set a strong password, and join to the domain, then have no other local accounts.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

Win7 has an administrator account but its disabled and unusable,

Have you checked in Safe Mode whether it is available? On XP & Vista it does not appear on normal Welcome screen but does in Safe Mode.

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

In reply to a post by jchamier:

Win7 has an administrator account but its disabled and unusable,

Have you checked in Safe Mode whether it is available? On XP & Vista it does not appear on normal Welcome screen but does in Safe Mode.

Welcome screen? we disable and have full username and password entry.

What shows on welcome screen isn't reliable. On XP you used to be able to on just after boot press CTRL+ALT+DEL twice and skip to an old style login dialog and enter any valid credentials. Haven't tried on 7/8.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

Welcome screen?

That wasn't the point! Whatever you use to login. The point was about Safe Mode and the availability of the "hidden" Administrator a/c.

Edited by XRaySpeX (Sat 20-Apr-13 22:47:46)

In reply to a post by jchamier:

On XP you used to be able to on just after boot press CTRL+ALT+DEL twice and skip to an old style login dialog and enter any valid credentials.

Yes, you get a login dialogue box upon hitting CTRL+ALT+DEL twice but it only accepts valid credentials. What did you mean by "any valid credentials"? If they are valid, what's the problem?

I'd forgotten that it was accessed in Safe Mode. Any point in enabling it in Win 7? I have my own account which has admin credentials and I don't expect I'll forget my password. It's PASSWORD. (Only joking!) On a more serious note, do the User Account passwords ever get corrupted and prevent access?

In reply to a post by GeoffB:

I'd forgotten that it was accessed in Safe Mode. Any point in enabling it in Win 7?

There is a point of logging into Administrator in Safe Mode and giving it a password, to prevent anyone else logging in unchallenged in Safe Mode.

I'd forgotten that it was accessed in Safe Mode. Any point in enabling it in Win 7?

There is a point of logging into Administrator in Safe Mode and giving it a password, to prevent anyone else logging in unchallenged in Safe Mode.

Assuming you have the computer management GUI (or the net user command line tool), you can change any password without having to be in safe mode.

It's disabled in Win7 and doesn't appear on SafeMode unless you have activated it manually.

Unless your hard drive is encrypted, passwords on Windows machines will only deter the most casual hacker. Boot the PC with a linux disc and you have full read (at least) access to the hard drive without a password in sight!

In reply to a post by ryant704:

It's disabled in Win7 and doesn't appear on SafeMode unless you have activated it manually.

Sheesh I posted that before

net user administrator /active:yes