Switching E-Mail addresses...

[NintendoTogepi]

I've been using this one email from hotmail for about 5 years now. I think it's finally time to switch to another provider. (hotmail is losing support, I can't even use it for my iPod Toch)

1. Do most websites let you switch your default email address?

2. Which provider should I use? Yahoo? Gmail?

[Polygon]

i had the same problem

i switched to gmail, if hotmail has POP3 support, you can have gmail download all of your old email messages off of your hotmail account (and delete them off the hotmail one as it does this) and then they will just appear in your gmail one.

Id use gmail. You get constantly growing space, the spam filters are excellent, and you can create custom filters, labels, and all sorts of fun gadgets. i love gmail, i have no plans to switch to anything else.

[CraigPaleo]

I've had Gmail since they first came out, when you had to be invited. At that time, it was far better than Yahoo or Hotmail.

You cannot switch your default email address in the same sense you can switch a telephone number. I'm not sure about hotmail but Gmail will let you forward an email address to another and even accept forwarded emails form several others. If you're thinking about leaving hotmail, I'd look into the email forwarding abilities of hotmail. If they allow forwarding, keep it and forward it in order to ease the transition to your new provider.

[igknighted]

i had the same problem

i switched to gmail, if hotmail has POP3 support, you can have gmail download all of your old email messages off of your hotmail account (and delete them off the hotmail one as it does this) and then they will just appear in your gmail one.

Id use gmail. You get constantly growing space, the spam filters are excellent, and you can create custom filters, labels, and all sorts of fun gadgets. i love gmail, i have no plans to switch to anything else.

Yahoo does this too, and actually is now based on the popular open-source Zimbra software. The big advantage of gmail (and why I use it over yahoo) is that it integrates with better web apps, and I can send emails from multiple accounts (you can actually send/receive emails from your hotmail account, all through gmail).

[RiceMonster]

I've had Gmail since they first came out, when you had to be invited. At that time, it was far better than Yahoo or Hotmail.

Yeah, I got mine when you had to be invited too (not the day it came out though). Gmail is great.

[Giant Speck]

Yeah, I got mine when you had to be invited too (not the day it came out though). Gmail is great.

Same here. I was so excited when I got the invitation, if I remember correctly. I think I have three accounts now. :p

[hyper_ch]

why not hosting your own mailserver?

Anyway, if you want to move away from hotmail, have a look here: http://www.howtoforge.com/forwarding-hotmail-to-any-other-email-account

[Mason Whitaker]

Gmail is cake, it has so many features and the layout is easy to use.

[hyper_ch]

Gmail is cake, it has so many features and the layout is easy to use.

And Google knows more about all the mails you get than you do...

[Mason Whitaker]

And Google knows more about all the mails you get than you do...Even if Google reads my mail, I'd gladly sacrifice my privacy for simplicity :S

I don't do anything that I wouldn't care someone seeing anyways.

[Dr Small]

Even if Google reads my mail, I'd gladly sacrifice my privacy for simplicity :S


"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- Benjamin Franklin



why not hosting your own mailserver?
That's exactly what I do :D

[tubezninja]

Even if Google reads my mail, I'd gladly sacrifice my privacy for simplicity :S


I wouldn't go that far as to say I'm willing to sacrifice my privacy. However, I reject wholesale the premise that Google "knows" more about my e-mail than I do.

Do they have an agenda? Absolutely, and I'll even go further and say that it's certainly profit-centered, and I find Google's motives behind the support of certain open source projects highly suspect [waits for the gasps from FOSS activists to die down]. Being actually cognizant of the sweet nothings I write to my significant other, the argument I'm having with a coworker, or the random morsel of embarrassing private info I might send to a close friend, is not part of that agenda. Sorry. You can remove your foil hats now.

Regarding running a mail server: I've done it, and if you know what you're doing, it's all right. However I think it irresponsible to just suggest that anyone regardless of skill set just up and run their own mail server. It opens you up to lots of hassles, and you're thrust to the front line in a battle against spammers trying to sell things to you or scam things from you, and malcontents who would like to gain access to your mail server so that spammers can use it to sell and scam their wares to others.

If I had to pick my battles, I'd choose Google over battling the spammers, myself. Google hates spammers as much as I do, and the enemy of my enemy... (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_enemy_of_my_enemy_is_my_friend)

[howefield]

Another vote for gmail for 3 reasons, firstly great spam filters, secondly imap access and thirdly no adverts at the bottom of your emails.

I'm with the guys who say they have nothing to hide that would worry me if a bot scans it, but if that changes, well... :p

[OffHand]

So google knows I am a pervert... big deal :D

p.s. using gmail but also have my own mail server.

[Dr Small]

You can remove your foil hats now.


No thanks. When they come out with the "GoogleBrain", my tin foil hat will sit tightly on my scalp!

[urukrama]

Dr Small and hyper_ch, how hard it is to set up your own mail server? What are the advantages (besides the obvious privacy), and what are the disadvantages? I'm curious.

[hyper_ch]

uru: setting up is not hard if you know how. Probably the biggest challenge you have is when you're on a dynamic IP address.

Advantages:
- you learn something
- you're in control
- you don't have to relay on others anymore
- you can offer all the services that you want (TLS/SSL, POP3/IMAP, Webmail, .............)

Disadvantages:
- you have to learn ;)
- home based servers are dependant on the line so if your connection at home gets interrupted you won't receive mails (although mail servers should try for 7 days to deliver an email)
- it uses power
- you should have a dedicated computer
- you also need to make backups

[Dr Small]

uru: setting up is not hard if you know how. Probably the biggest challenge you have is when you're on a dynamic IP address.



That was a very good list, but I have a dynamic IP and have found that using DynDNS.org + ipupdate solves my problems. My IP address doesn't change that often, but if it does, the script takes care of it.

I also run a second box for mail, web, webmin, backups, squid, dansguardian, ftp and the sorts, so it runs all the time. Occasionally my internet connection is down (satellite isn't good during rain storms) but most mailservers will keep the message in queue at least a minimum of 4 days (generally). So if the connection was down, I'll get the email several hours later.

You definitely learn alot by running your own mailserver. I think that I have. How to secure it properly, customize it, choose your webmail/email clients, learn about SMTP, spam filters and the sort.

It's really not all that hard as it seems. I mean, look at me. I used to be a dumb Windows user that found Linux 2years 3months ago, and now run my own server. Maybe I just have a knack for it.. I dunno. :D

[Mason Whitaker]

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Small, the quote makes absolutely no sense. I'm not forsaking my liberty for safety :S
I'm forsaking crap email services for something better -.-'

[hyper_ch]

dr small: the problem arises if you want to send email from a dynamic ip. You'll have to relay it through a real server because most email servers will reject that email.

and well, it's no really difficult to setup a server, one just has to read a lot of stuff and not lose the spirit to set it up :)

[Dr Small]

dr small: the problem arises if you want to send email from a dynamic ip. You'll have to relay it through a real server because most email servers will reject that email.

I guess I'm just lucky that it hasn't happened to me so far :D

[urukrama]

hyper_ch and Dr Small, thanks for the info. Do you get a lot of spam?

[Dr Small]

hyper_ch and Dr Small, thanks for the info. Do you get a lot of spam?
No, but I did notice 3 spam messages over the last several days, so I just installed SpamAssassin.

By the way, how is that thing supposed to work anyhow? I mean, do I have to do any configuring to get it to work with Postfix?

[hyper_ch]

well, that's one way... spamassassin will just tag emails based on the rules... also apply bayes and train ham and spam.... then use procmail for example as local delivery agent to handle that tagged mail.

[kevdog]

I've run my own mailserver in the past also, but it did become rather tedious. You are definitely in control -- but that is the problem -- you need to be in control all the time. Upgrading packages, spam, etc. Its not that hard to get off the ground and keep running like hyper_ch and Dr. Small have stated, however if you have work to do ouside of Linux (:)) it can get to be a drag after a while.

[FuturePilot]

dr small: the problem arises if you want to send email from a dynamic ip. You'll have to relay it through a real server because most email servers will reject that email.

and well, it's no really difficult to setup a server, one just has to read a lot of stuff and not lose the spirit to set it up :)

That's the problem I ran into. I have my server email me the output of cron-apt and after a couple of days the emails would start bouncing. Now I got it working by relaying the emails through my ISP's mail servers.

[hyper_ch]

relaying isn't that hard... once you know the cause for the emails not being delivered is becasue the recipient email server rejects it because of you being on a dynamic IP :)