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I agree with Mike. Good suggestion. Just clean/delete all your stuff, but keep your account and use it for spam and one-time registrations. Having an email account just for that is very handy.
Remember, you need to notify all your contacts about the new email address, otherwise they will continue sending you emails there.
The reason I want to stay away from all the free, Big Name email providers (including from ISP companies), is because of the data mining and the lack of privacy and stolen, personal information so they can make money off of ME without my permission or receiving any compensation for it myself.
In my hours of researching email providers, I've learned that the days of free email are coming to a close - very quickly. Pay services are very common, especially overseas. The reason email is still free among the Big Names is because of the data mining and theft of information they commit.
I agree with Mike. Good suggestion. Just clean/delete all your stuff, but keep your account and use it for spam and one-time registrations. Having an email account just for that is very handy.
Remember, you need to notify all your contacts about the new email address, otherwise they will continue sending you emails there.
I have a junk account that I use whenever I have to register for anything online in order to use it. I refuse to keep any Microsoft accounts now due to the sheer hell they put me through for the last three weeks. Not to mention that they're system really is broken to perform the way it is. I wish people could watch a video of what I had to go through. It really is unbelievable.
My purposes for email are so simple that I don't even have contact lists. (Only two email addresses I had to make sure I remembered.) I have one junk account to register for things. One personal account for contact with friends and family. And one for business purposes. All three are now registered at mail.com. (Just had to take the word "hot" out of the equation and I basically still have the same email addresses!) If I weren't so detail-oriented, I would do with just one!
Thanks for being polite about my crankiness. Add to that, that I'm a detail-oriented and organized person. Not obsessively, but, when it comes to the internet, I don't trust it. I never have. I told everyone many years ago, when AOL was the big thing, that this day of greedy data mining and lack of privacy would come. (It's also why I don't own a smart phone or any tech gadgets, other than my computer.)
Anyway, I decided to "spring clean" my computer to help keep my mind occupied and awake. When I got to Hotmail, this situation repeated more times than Groundhog Day and, combined with my exhaustion, I gave in to anger. (Highly unlike me.)
Computer and gadgets are invented to make your life easy. Data mining is everywhere, from stores, to utility, health, insurance, banking... you name it. You can avoid some, but the other will still tell story about you. We cannot go back to Stone Age, we just need to use those gadgets wisely and responsibly.
Basic stuff like good firewall/AV protection, strong passwords, and minimum of personal data. Clean and back-up.
But even then, if your family, friends or coworkers decide to post stuff about you, or related to you, there is nothing you can do. Lots of info is public, and searchable.
Pretty soon all our bills will be paperless, and that means you will have to input on their websites all your info including methods of payment. Many businesses leave brick and mortar, and expect you to deal with them per Internet. It's cheaper, easier and convenient for both parties.
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To answer your question, I just like things to be completely taken care of. But, in this case, I have no choice with two of the Hotmail addresses. Hotmail locked them for 30 days, due to their broken down system of ridiculous, hellish torment.
There is no such thing like "complete" care of things on the Internet. Everything you ever inputted, stays there, even after you "delete" it. It is out of your sight, but stays on the servers forever. It's searchable, and in most cases not even a rocket science.
You can practice secure surfing, and use secure emails to minimize the damage, but we still are not completely sure if those methods will really protect our privacy.
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After reading your post, I felt better about just walking away from them because 1) I already deleted every e-mail, and 2) I never, ever register for anything online with a single piece of real information. For example, if I registered an email address for "pizzaboy at hotmail dot com", I would put my first name as pizza, and my last name as boy. (I don't have this email address, it's just an example and I just came away from a pizza thread!) Zip Code? 90120. Phone? Random numbers. Birthday? Something easy to remember, like a holiday and an easy, round number year that's easy to remember. "July 4, 1950" for example.
This may work for less important activities, but try to do it with your bank, utility, phone ... etc.
You can't even rent a car and pay cash. They want your complete info, and they do the whole transaction on the Internet. Nowadays almost everything is inputted to the computer. Privacy has become an oxymoron.
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Originally Posted by plain and simple
The reason I want to stay away from all the free, Big Name email providers (including from ISP companies), is because of the data mining and the lack of privacy and stolen, personal information so they can make money off of ME without my permission or receiving any compensation for it myself.
When you get a paid emails you pay for more storage, clean, fast loading, professional email service, no adds, and 24/7 customers care if something bad happens. (e.g. restoring access, lost password etc.)
If you want privacy - you need to get an email account from secure and private hosting services, and here is a list: List of Secure Email Providers that take Privacy Serious - FreedomHack
I have a junk account that I use whenever I have to register for anything online in order to use it. I refuse to keep any Microsoft accounts now due to the sheer hell they put me through for the last three weeks. Not to mention that they're system really is broken to perform the way it is. I wish people could watch a video of what I had to go through. It really is unbelievable.
My purposes for email are so simple that I don't even have contact lists. (Only two email addresses I had to make sure I remembered.) I have one junk account to register for things. One personal account for contact with friends and family. And one for business purposes. All three are now registered at mail.com. (Just had to take the word "hot" out of the equation and I basically still have the same email addresses!) If I weren't so detail-oriented, I would do with just one!
Zoho.
It is about as simple as a "free," no ad, service will get.
There is no "free." "Free" is history, as should be expected. Somehow the provider MUST make enough to pay for the cost of offering the service, and a profit for the bother.
I pay cash money for email, because I value email and want it "My Way." I have no misconception that someone can afford to pay the expenses to give me something of value at no cost to me.
Nope! I'm going to be one of those stubborn, old goats who refuses to change with the times! I've never even owned a microwave. I don't even have a TV, radio, stereo, CDs, DVDs or video games. No iPods, iPads, iPhones or anything else that requires my ears to be plugged. I still cook from scratch and make my own bread and butter every week. After air-conditioning and indoor plumbing, I was content. I only need email addresses, and a computer, because I'm writer.
When you've lived your life without these gadgets and gizmos, you see things that other people don't see - at least not clearly. These gizmos have turned our society into impatient, entertainment-driven, self-entitled, instant-gratification addicted, stressed out, inconsiderate beings whose time is consumed by "stuff." Other people only exist as necessities to ring up our purchases, fulfill our needs or as obstacles to bypass. As long as nobody messes with their entertainment or tells them they can't do something, they don't care what happens outside their little bubble. There's a level of oblivion that people are happy to walk in.
If the electricity goes out, people become irritable, impatient, panicky and angry because their stuff can't charge. No, I don't believe these things exist to make our lives easier. (Who said life was supposed to be easy?) They exist to consume our time, our finances, our personal information for the gain of others, our desires and, thus, our lives - all in the disguise of ease and pleasure.
It's all a matter of perception and what people consider important to them. My values are just different than most other people's. I don't see myself as any better or worse than others. Just different. Admittedly, I'm in the minute minority!
I never, ever register for anything online with a single piece of real information. For example, if I registered an email address for "pizzaboy at hotmail dot com", I would put my first name as pizza, and my last name as boy. (I don't have this email address, it's just an example and I just came away from a pizza thread!)
Please don't ever do this again! This practice drives me nuts, because it affects me personally, and here's why.
I was fortunate to be one of the very first people to get an account at one of the world's most popular email providers. I got in there so early that I nabbed the account lastname@ that provider, with MY last name before the @ symbol.
The drawback, that gets worse with each passing year, is that there are apparently a lot of people who share my last name who use the scheme that you do. Rather than give their real email address, these inconsiderate jerks give MY email address to retail stores, hotels, airlines, and health insurance companies, etc., ALL OVER THE WORLD. Consequently, my email account has been involuntarily added to email lists from all over the world. These are legitimate businesses, emailing me ads and details about purchases made by men and women who share my last name. In many cases, there is NO way for me to unsubscribe from these email lists, because I don't know enough account details about the other person to convince the email system to let me unsubscribe. It's a huge nuisance and it aggravates me to no end to know that some man or woman, who shares my last name, made the deliberate choice to subject my email account to this stuff that has no value to me.
That's a lousy thing you're doing there. Somebody owns pizzaboy at hotmail, and he's probably tired of getting the junk emails that you signed him up for.
Zoho.
It is about as simple as a "free," no ad, service will get.
There is no "free." "Free" is history, as should be expected. Somehow the provider MUST make enough to pay for the cost of offering the service, and a profit for the bother.
I pay cash money for email, because I value email and want it "My Way." I have no misconception that someone can afford to pay the expenses to give me something of value at no cost to me.
I can understand that. My need for email is very different - a minimum, infrequent need. Not enough to have to pay for it.
I tried Zoho. I couldn't figure it out. I had to give them an e-mail address in order to register with the site before I could get a Zoho email address. And the email address I registered with became my user name? So, to use Zoho, I had to have two completely different provider addresses and two different passwords. I found no way around it.
elnina's Mail.com suggestion seems to be working out well for the time being. Time will tell if any of the numerous complaints I've read about it surface in my own experience.
Thanks again, everyone, for taking your time and energy to help me out with your suggestions. I really am grateful.
Please don't ever do this again! This practice drives me nuts, because it affects me personally, and here's why.
I was fortunate to be one of the very first people to get an account at one of the world's most popular email providers. I got in there so early that I nabbed the account lastname@ that provider, with MY last name before the @ symbol.
The drawback, that gets worse with each passing year, is that there are apparently a lot of people who share my last name who use the scheme that you do. Rather than give their real email address, these inconsiderate jerks give MY email address to retail stores, hotels, airlines, and health insurance companies, etc., ALL OVER THE WORLD. Consequently, my email account has been involuntarily added to email lists from all over the world. These are legitimate businesses, emailing me ads and details about purchases made by men and women who share my last name. In many cases, there is NO way for me to unsubscribe from these email lists, because I don't know enough account details about the other person to convince the email system to let me unsubscribe. It's a huge nuisance and it aggravates me to no end to know that some man or woman, who shares my last name, made the deliberate choice to subject my email account to this stuff that has no value to me.
That's a lousy thing you're doing there. Somebody owns pizzaboy at hotmail, and he's probably tired of getting the junk emails that you signed him up for.
It might be a lousy thing but I think it's worse that hackers and businesses mine the internet for my personal information for their own financial gain without permission. That's a lot more lousy.
It might be a lousy thing but I think it's worse that hackers and businesses mine the internet for my personal information for their own financial gain without permission. That's a lot more lousy.
It's not lousy at all. Data mining and email ads are the very real cost of the convenience of "free" services on the Internet.
Your "solution" is like throwing every piece of junk mail that arrives in your (physical) mailbox into your neighbor's yard, instead of throwing it into the trash or recycling it. If you're not willing to be a good Internet citizen, maybe you shouldn't be doing business on the Internet?
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Add to that, that I'm a detail-oriented and organized person. Not obsessively, but, when it comes to the internet, I don't trust it. I never have. I told everyone many years ago, when AOL was the big thing, that this day of greedy data mining and lack of privacy would come. (It's also why I don't own a smart phone or any tech gadgets, other than my computer.)
