Of the "majors" which most people use, what do you like, and why?

[webecedarian]

I'm still thinking about what provider to use for an email to connect to a forum, which will mostly be unused. I was going to try VFE, but it has a 90-day inactivity limit.

Anyway, of the best-known providers - like say, Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail - do you strongly like/dislike any of them? At least they've been around. Gmail, though, is holding an account of mine hostage, demanding a cell phone now.

I prefer Hotmail/Outlook for the overall look/usage (although I hate the latest tweaking), but they drive me crazy by so often demanding verification. I've learned not to use Bing at the same time, though, since they talk to each other.

[malcontent]

Have you considered using a service that uses disposable email aliases that relays email to your main address box?

With email aliases, you can be anonymous online and protect your inbox against spams and phishing.

DuckDuckGo has an email relay service that allows you to create an unlimited number of disposable email addresses/aliases. You can create/delete them at will. All email sent to them will be forwarded to your main email address. You can create a unique email address for every forum or service. They don't expire but you can manually delete them and create another. DuckDuckGo also strips out tracking beacons from the emails it relays to your true inbox.

https://www.spreadprivacy.com/protec...ction/?s=em-gs

https://anonaddy.com/

Others that offer a limited number of aliases and offer a paid version for more.

https://simplelogin.io/

Firefox has a version:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb...-email-address

[bluedragon]

I like the email filter options in outlook, so of the filters could be created automatically on contrast to gmail where I have to do a lot manually. gmail comes behind outlook, and yahoo is the worst. they dont provide either..or ruleset. yandex has also good filter features.

regarding spam, i dont see any difference. gmail puts some legit emails into spam, even if i report not spam. but comparatively yahoo is better since it can actually block incoming spams, compared to what gmail/outlook does ,that is, receive the email and put it in spam folder and not blocking email.

[SideshowBob]

Originally Posted by bluedragon

regarding spam, i dont see any difference. gmail puts some legit emails into spam, even if i report not spam. but comparatively yahoo is better since it can actually block incoming spams, compared to what gmail/outlook does ,that is, receive the email and put it in spam folder and not blocking email.

Most services block certain spam, including gmail. What gets into a spam folder is probable spam. The way you describe it, Yahoo sounds like a lower quality service.

[TenFour]

Of the majors Gmail is the best IMHO. I daily use both Gmail and Microsoft 365 email and Gmail has better spam filters and deliverability. In my personal Gmail account, which I have used since 2006, it is very rare to see any spam in my Inbox while daily they trap several spam and phishing messages that are accurately put into the Spam folder. The biggest downside to Gmail is the real possibility of losing access to your account for some unknown reason when one of their automated systems detects something. It can be very difficult to get back in, so you must use and keep up to date things like a valid recovery phone and a valid recovery email address. Just the other day I received the message that I was locked out because they detected suspicious activity. I have no idea what the suspicious activity was unless it was me trying to sync my Gmail calendar with another calendar app I was trying out. Gmail forced me to change my password and I was able to get back in. This has happened to me when traveling outside of the country and it has been much harder to get back in because they were detecting activity from a place on the other side of the world from where I usually access the account.

[webecedarian]

Originally Posted by malcontent

Have you considered using a service that uses disposable email aliases that relays email to your main address box? With email aliases, you can be anonymous online and protect your inbox against spams and phishing.

DuckDuckGo has an email relay service that allows you to create an unlimited number of disposable email addresses/aliases. You can create/delete them at will. All email sent to them will be forwarded to your main email address. You can create a unique email address for every forum or service. They don't expire but you can manually delete them and create another. DuckDuckGo also strips out tracking beacons from the emails it relays to your true inbox.

https://www.spreadprivacy.com/protec...ction/?s=em-gs

https://anonaddy.com/

Others that offer a limited number of aliases and offer a paid version for more.
https://simplelogin.io/

Firefox has a version:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb...-email-address

Thanks, but I need an email I can keep, not a disposable one. Because Hotmail, for instance, keeps badgering me about whether the alternative email is still valid. This is why it was so infuriating when at one point I used GMX, but then GMX de-activated the account, but when I tried to re-up it claimed it wasn't available, so I was shut out of the Hotmail I wanted. Providers do this a lot when you sign in from another place - for instance, if you're traveling.

[malcontent]

Originally Posted by webecedarian

Thanks, but I need an email I can keep, not a disposable one. Because Hotmail, for instance, keeps badgering me about whether the alternative email is still valid. This is why it was so infuriating when at one point I used GMX, but then GMX de-activated the account, but when I tried to re-up it claimed it wasn't available, so I was shut out of the Hotmail I wanted. Providers do this a lot when you sign in from another place - for instance, if you're traveling.

Their only disposable in the sense that you can manually delete the created addresses at will. If you never delete them, the addresses will continue work for as long as you need them.

When you create a DuckDuckGo address, the primary/permanent address will be userhandle@duck.com. You can receive and reply from it. The disposable addresses will be randomly generated userhandles with the duck.com domain. These are the ones that can be created and manually deleted. You can receive and reply using them also. You can created unlimited disposable addresses.

[hadaso]

Originally Posted by TenFour

... It can be very difficult to get back ... Gmail forced me to change my password and I was able to get back in. This has happened to me when traveling outside of the country and it has been much harder to get back in ....

That's the cost of "free". If you include the cost of the time you waste and the cost of potentially losing access to your own information, probably paying for your own domain and for hosting it is cheaper. When travelling most people don't rely on free accommodation and free flight tickets and free mobile phone roaming etc. The price I pay for using my cellphone while travelling for a week or two is comparable to the price I pay for a year of paid email. The price I pay for clean linen on the same week is much more.

[TenFour]

That's the cost of "free." If you include the cost of the time you waste and the cost of potentially losing access to your own information...

I agree, but OTOH I have saved enough time and money in my 17 years of using free Gmail to feel the bargain has been a good one. Just the spam filters alone have been priceless. I use and have tried many other email services, and I always end up thinking, "People live like this?" A lot of wasted time sorting emails or investigating email headers can be avoided because of Gmail's great filters.