| Pages in topic: [1 2 3] > | Leaving Yahoo - which is the safest email service? Thread poster: Ines Burrell
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Ines Burrell 
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:14
Member (2004)
English to Latvian
+ ...
About a month ago I suddenly lost a whole month worth of my emails. One moment they were there and the next they were gone. All of them - the ones still in my inbox, the ones I saved to other folders. It was not a pleasant experience. I did eventually get them all back, including all the spam ones, so sifting through took quite a while, but I was so happy to get all my stuff back, I did not really mind.
I thought this was a blip. Things happen. With all the technology we use, everyb... See more About a month ago I suddenly lost a whole month worth of my emails. One moment they were there and the next they were gone. All of them - the ones still in my inbox, the ones I saved to other folders. It was not a pleasant experience. I did eventually get them all back, including all the spam ones, so sifting through took quite a while, but I was so happy to get all my stuff back, I did not really mind.
I thought this was a blip. Things happen. With all the technology we use, everybody is bound to get a bit of trouble now and then.
It was not. I just lost the last two weeks worth of emails. Among them - an email with the source file I have to deliver tomorrow, which I though I had saved on my computer but it turned out I did not. So that's that for me. After 16 years with Yahoo, I am jumping the ship.
Can anybody advise me of the best (preferably free but I am open to alternative lifestyle by now) email service where things like this would not happen? I am looking for dependable, steadfast service. I tend to store miles of emails as a form of record keeping so the new email account should be capable of transferring them and still have plenty of space for the next few years to come.
Also, I assume it is possible to set up email forwarding to pick up everything from the old email address, but does it actually work in practice? How long does it take for the clients to learn the new address?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Ines ▲ Collapse
| | | | Anders O.
Norway
Local time: 15:14
English to Norwegian
+ ...
This may sound like a cliché, but I have had only good experiences with Google's Gmail. Nothing has ever gotten lost, and the interface is so slick and smooth. It is pretty easy to find past e-mails, both sent and received, using the search function.
Gmail has a great forwarding function, but I don't know about forwarding stuff from other e-mail providers to Gmail, using Gmail. If I were you, I'd gather all my contacts (clients, family etc.), and manually send them an e-mail from y... See more This may sound like a cliché, but I have had only good experiences with Google's Gmail. Nothing has ever gotten lost, and the interface is so slick and smooth. It is pretty easy to find past e-mails, both sent and received, using the search function.
Gmail has a great forwarding function, but I don't know about forwarding stuff from other e-mail providers to Gmail, using Gmail. If I were you, I'd gather all my contacts (clients, family etc.), and manually send them an e-mail from your new e-mail provider and let them know that this address is your new one. In Gmail, sending the same e-mail to multiple recipients is really easy.
I have never bothered categorising anything, so I can't tell you how good that feature is. But you should definitely look into Gmail nonetheless!
If you wanna look really "pro", you could look into renting a domain for a monthly fee, and attach an e-mail service to it. A friend of mine who runs his own business uses One, and is very satisfied.
https://www.one.com/en/ ▲ Collapse
| | | | Tony M
France
Local time: 15:14
Member
French to English
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER | Gmail ... with a caveat! | Dec 13, 2015 |
I basically agree with what Anders says; I have had occasion to fall back on Gmail in the past, and I have found it reliable and glitch-free. I used it for just over a year before I was able to go back to my normal server. It worked supremely well picking up e-mails from ALL my other e-mail accounts (about 6!) and storing them all in separate folders if I wanted. The only slight hassle is that it's a bit fiddly to set up each address, and then you can't simply turn it on and off at will; i.e. if... See more I basically agree with what Anders says; I have had occasion to fall back on Gmail in the past, and I have found it reliable and glitch-free. I used it for just over a year before I was able to go back to my normal server. It worked supremely well picking up e-mails from ALL my other e-mail accounts (about 6!) and storing them all in separate folders if I wanted. The only slight hassle is that it's a bit fiddly to set up each address, and then you can't simply turn it on and off at will; i.e. if you want to stop a forward for any reason, should you wish to start it again you have to set it up all over again. You can even choose which 'reply to' address is used for each incoming account — so in theory, it OUGHT to be transparent to your correspondents; that said, I don't think it is! I found a lot of my correspondents started using my Gmail address, which I specifically didn't want them to do, as I intended returning to my usual service in due course! So it looks as if over a period of time, people will have picked up your new address and start using it seamlessly, if they 'reply to' messages instead of selecting your address from their address book.
One slight disadvantage (which turned out to be a major one for me!) is that unlike your normal e-mail server, which you can set if you wish to delete e-mails from the distant server once you delete them on your computer, Gmail DOESN'T — so you need to delete mails manually as you go along. I failed to do this, so when I reverted to my usual server, I had something like 30,000 messages waiting for me, which I had to laboriously go through and delete manually; my case was special: as I knew I would be reverting, I set up Gmail to leave the messages on the ISP server, so I would be able to collect them later on my normal e-mail server (Thunderbird) — but I was unaware that under this circumstance, they were NOT being deleted from the ISP's server whenever I deleted them from Gmail. I shall know better next time!
HOWEVER, here's the caveat! Gmail reads (via a computer algorithm, not a human reader!) all your mails and (it seems) their attachments. I looked into this, as I found I was receiving advertising targetted on subjects that I had received e-mails about, including topics that ONLY appeared within attachments! Shades of 'Big Brother' there!
Now you may or may not be worried about this personally, but it may have more important repercussions in terms of client confidentiality. I for one have now stopped using Gmail for work e-mails, other than purely admnistrative ones with no confidential content, and I warn all my customers not to send me stuff via Gmail, but instead use a file transfer service.
So you might need to consider carefully all the ramifications before committing yourself. personally, I always feel that using a Gmail or other free service is a sure sign of a lack of professionalism in a freelancer — and of course, such free services also have a very bad name in terms of being used for scamming. Certainly, if I get an enquiry from a new 'customer' using a gmail address, I redouble my checking, and I would say over 50% of such enquiries have indeed been scams of some kind. I rest my case!
I think at the very least you ought to consider using an e-mail service from a paying ISP — most of them do offer some way of recovering mail from other accounts, but that might be something to check into carefully before committing, as I've had varying experiences with 3 ISPs here in France; one was difficult to make work, and another one I never did actually manage to make it work.
As Anders says, having your own domain name is of course the ultimate sign of professionalism — and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg; or of course, consider too using the e-mail facilities that are included in your ProZ.com subscription!
[Modifié le 2015-12-13 20:45 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:14
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
| Email confidentiality concerns | Dec 13, 2015 |
Tony M wrote:
Now you may or may not be worried about this personally, but it may have more important repercussions in terms of client confidentiality. I for one have now stopped using Gmail for work e-mails, other than purely admnistrative ones with no confidential content, and I warn all my customers not to send me stuff via Gmail, but instead use a file transfer service.
I took the same approach as Tony.
After 20 years of using corporate email on (hopefully) secure networks I really didn't like the idea that Gmail had access to everything I was discussing with clients including, in some cases, material nonpublic information.
I moved all my work email to another service (Fastmail) earlier this year. Works well.
Dan
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Michael Beijer
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:14
Member (2009)
Dutch to English
+ ...
| Google Apps for Work is the best. Period. | Dec 13, 2015 |
I totally disagree: Gmail scanning your emails so it can serve targeted ads in no way constitutes a breach of client confidentiality. There is a very big difference between a bot scanning text for keywords and a human reading your email looking for interesting data it might be able to sell or use for nefarious purposes.
I have been using a Google Apps for Work email address for years, behind an email account with my own domain, and have found it to be the most reliable service curre... See more I totally disagree: Gmail scanning your emails so it can serve targeted ads in no way constitutes a breach of client confidentiality. There is a very big difference between a bot scanning text for keywords and a human reading your email looking for interesting data it might be able to sell or use for nefarious purposes.
I have been using a Google Apps for Work email address for years, behind an email account with my own domain, and have found it to be the most reliable service currently available. All those special email providers and email accounts offered by ISPs, etc., sufferer from myriad problems. Basically, if you are worried about this confidentiality non-issue and end up avoiding Gmail, be prepared to compromise on reliability and UI.
Me, I'm sticking with my Google Apps for Work account: it has the best UI bar none, and I have never had a problem sending/receiving a message or (so-called large) attachment.
https://apps.google.com
[Edited at 2015-12-13 22:08 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Ines Burrell
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:14
Member (2004)
English to Latvian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Ahem... speaking about domains | Dec 13, 2015 |
Well, I kind of have one with Proz.com... and the email address (and I am turning very red right now).
I am one of those people who stick with what they know and vice versa. When I got my domain, I set up an email address from which I, funnily enough, managed to forward emails to my yahoo account (I even made a website and uploaded it, and I still have no idea how), and that was that. Have not had anything to do with it since.
The problem is, I am not very technically ... See more Well, I kind of have one with Proz.com... and the email address (and I am turning very red right now).
I am one of those people who stick with what they know and vice versa. When I got my domain, I set up an email address from which I, funnily enough, managed to forward emails to my yahoo account (I even made a website and uploaded it, and I still have no idea how), and that was that. Have not had anything to do with it since.
The problem is, I am not very technically minded when it comes to things I do not know. I did not find the email system Proz offered very intuitive, and I suspect back then it was not. I have absolutely no idea how to sign into it, how to get the emails forwarded to my phone, for example, and when I ask technical support for advice for morons, I always get advice for reasonably clever people, which I will eventually become, but first I need that advice for morons. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Natalia Postrigan
United States
Local time: 06:14
Member (2016)
English to Russian
+ ...
Definitely Gmail. Also, Google now has so-called Inbox, which is a new interface for Gmail. It's neat. Definitely sign up for Gmail and then choose the interface you like, whether classic Gmail or new Inbox.
| | | | Natalie
Poland
Local time: 15:14
Member (2002)
English to Russian
+ ...
Moderator of this forum SITE LOCALIZER
Why don't you use the email service from your ISP provider?
Natalia
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Ines Burrell
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:14
Member (2004)
English to Latvian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | ISP provider | Dec 14, 2015 |
Natalie wrote:
Why don't you use the email service from your ISP provider?
Natalia
Because I change them every year when they get too lazy and my Internet speed drops to half of what I am paying for. Once I leave, the email address is gone. I need something that will last.
Actually, having researched the subject, I am now toying with the idea of email backup. Just as I thought, when I read the Proz hosting email instructions, my eyes started crossing over before I had got even half way through. Besides, there used to be a storage limit and I really hate boundaries - free spirit and all that.
| | | | | Drop free mail altogether | Dec 14, 2015 |
I would suggest dropping the free email providers as soon as possible. I does nothing good to your image as a professional. Same applies to all those free websites. You need to invest in your image if you want to be taken seriously.
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Marius Reika wrote:
I would suggest dropping the free email providers as soon as possible. I does nothing good to your image as a professional. Same applies to all those free websites. You need to invest in your image if you want to be taken seriously.
Freelance translators/interpretors who use freemail account as their primary account looks very unprofessional to me. Maybe they're trying to avoid spam and phishing mails to their real (I mean not freemail like Yahoo and Hotmail) own email account, but maybe not. Anyway I don't take them seriously either who uses free websites.
Back to the original topic, nothing in cyberspace is safe. Even this post I'm making now would be available on the Internet in an hour or so even if it's in Proz's domain but because it's a public forum. Emails are not safe too.
I remember when I used to work as an inhouse translator, my job also included sending files to be translated to freelancers by emails, and they were in zip folders with passwords. My colleague used to tell me to FAX the password separately and not include it in the email correspondences, since fax cannot be tapped or hacked whereas Internet is vulnerable to these actions.
| | | | Anders O.
Norway
Local time: 15:14
English to Norwegian
+ ...
Sigaint is also a free possibility, with excellent encryption. The domain is .org, and non-commercial. It does look a bit more professional than e.g. Gmail
The downside is that it can only be reached with TOR browser, as it is located on the deep web. Fun fact: it is the go-to e-mail provider for oppressed journalists due to its encryption.
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Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:14
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
| These companies do not have your best interests at heart | Dec 14, 2015 |
Michael Beijer wrote:
I totally disagree: Gmail scanning your emails so it can serve targeted ads in no way constitutes a breach of client confidentiality.
Hmm. Did your clients sign Google's service agreement? Then by what right does Google scan their email? You don't have the legal right to agree on behalf of your clients. US courts have disagreed with Google's claim that it has their implied consent, noting that implied consent would make a mockery of the applicable law.
However, bots scanning email today is not my main concern, although I dislike it.
My concern is that tomorrow Google may decide that they can do something far more intrusive with my data, retroactively apply it to my email inbox and then claim that it is within the terms of the agreements to which I have already agreed.
We should not simply be assuming that these large listed corporates, especially in the US, are trustworthy. They are full of people who are highly incentivised to come up with new money-making ideas, whatever the ethics. Facebook is the obvious poster boy for not respecting privacy, but Google has come a long way from its "Don't be evil" beginnings.
You don't have to be a wild-eyed conspiracy theorist to think they take things too far. Remember, this is a company that admitted to sucking up huge amounts of completely unrelated data with its Street View cars. How on earth could it justify that? It was done simply because Google could do it. It was also clearly unethical.
It comes down to trust. I don't trust Google, though I might trust it more if it didn't have plans to rule the world of data.
As for the Gmail interface, for me it's too cluttered and busy. I was never a fan. Nor do I miss the much-vaunted search - Fastmail's appears to be just as useful.
Regards
Dan
| | | | Rolf Keller
Germany
Local time: 15:14
English to German
| Dealing with e-mail | Dec 14, 2015 |
Burrell wrote:
I just lost the last two weeks worth of emails. Among them - an email with the source file I have to deliver tomorrow, which I though I had saved on my computer but it turned out I did not.
Do you know for sure that Yahoo was the culprit? Maybe you usage policy is wrong?
I tend to store miles of emails as a form of record keeping
If you use any consumer-level service provider for archiving purposes your usage policy IS wrong. Such providers are useful for backup purposes only.
I assume it is possible to set up email forwarding to pick up everything from the old email address
Of course mails sent to your Yahoo address arrive at Yahoo's mail server, are processed there and put into your inbox at Yahoo. Afterwards Yahoo would send copies to your new address. So, if you don't want to rely on Yahoo anymore ...
Can anybody advise me of the best (preferably free but I am open to alternative lifestyle by now) email service where things like this would not happen?
There is no such thing like a freee lunch. Apart of that, "free" often means "not professional". Of course this depends on the country. There are certain countries in which a worldwide provider like Gmail is the very best option, but in certain countries any freelancer who uses any free service might be considered as an unprofessional or inexperienced entrepreneur.
| | | | | Gmail too often used by Scammers | Dec 14, 2015 |
Because you cannot track the sender´s IP number in emails with a gmail domain, gmail is often used by scammers. Just have a look at http://www.translator-scammers.com/
By using gmail you facilitate the work of scammers stealing the identity of translators and applying with your good name (slightly changed) to outsource stolen jobs.
For private purposes gmail may be acceptable, when ignor... See more Because you cannot track the sender´s IP number in emails with a gmail domain, gmail is often used by scammers. Just have a look at http://www.translator-scammers.com/
By using gmail you facilitate the work of scammers stealing the identity of translators and applying with your good name (slightly changed) to outsource stolen jobs.
For private purposes gmail may be acceptable, when ignoring the robot issues mentioned further above.
Note: I see, Tony already mentioned it.
[Edited at 2015-12-14 08:46 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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