Windows 10: It’s (Past) Time to Close That Yahoo Account

I am really stuck with*Yahoo as I get my satellite TV, phone and broadband from SKY.
I had changed the Yahoo password in 2014, and then increased it to 18 characters when the s--t hit the fan. The password is longer now by a few extra characters.
*If SKY keep Yahoo, there is very little I can do about it.

 

I've had a Yahoo account as my main personal account for maybe the past 10 years. Even without them informing me of security breaches, I could tell my e-mail was hacked or stolen when every once in a while I or someone else received a spam e-mail using my name looking something like the below. When I checked yahoo help for answers, their only suggestion would be for me to change my password and use a better virus protection on my computer, only making it look like security on MY end was compromised, not theirs. Well I always knew better.
And I'm sure Yahoo hasn't been the only one. The actual example below was from a friend who's been a long time Gmail user, and the long list of e-mail addresses under To: clearly identified as from HIS address book. So in the last years I've seen a similar amount of these e-mails from Gmail users as I've seen from Yahoo ones. It doesn't take another news story on Yahoo to realize many of these providers aren't invulnerable against occasional hacks. I'm not sweating it with my Yahoo account and keep following my basic rules:

1. change your e-mail password frequently, like once a month, and keep it complex (just like you're required with many work related accounts)

2. use a good AV/malware/spyware client on your end (should go without saying)

3. use a local e-mail client to frequently save your important e-mails offline (or on personal cloud if needed online)

4. at the same time, delete those along with all the other crap from e-mail server

 

The only thing I ever used Yahoo for was a junk email account. It's been so long ago that I don't even remember what my email address was.

 

Is*gmail a safer alternative? I could migrate some of the more sensitive accounts over to more than one gmail one.

 

I think so, but always turn on two factor authentication.

 

I used the Yahoo form to delete mine but I had the bright idea to login and see if it was blocked or something but it's not *Smile

I know it takes 90 days to get it deleted but did I stopped the deletion procedure by login in? Can I login in to see if it's really gone after the days pass?

 

I don't think anyone can really tell you the information you store with them is truly safe.
This is what worries me a bit about Windows 10 and its thirst for information from you computer.
Also online systems like office 360, It's only a matter of time before peoples private letters, very confidential information gets hacked and stolen.

 

That's true, anytime you put your data in the possession of someone else, you're at the mercy of the company's security practices as well as their policies relating to your data.

Just because a company says they will not share your personal information or data preferences is no guarantee they won't do so later. Over the past few years, several companies have been bought out by other companies who have different views/policies on sharing your personal information. Since the original company is now owned by a new one, they are under no obligation to honor the original policies.

Any data, highly personal or something you want to hang on to, would best be stored at home.

 

Sooo what should I do? logout and use the form again to delete the account?

 

I used a Gmail address for a Yahoo group for a couple of years without logging into Yahoo, who eventually deleted my account after around 12 months of not logging in to it, group died anyway and went over to farcebook.

Never had any problems with Gmail which I have used since it was in beta but now rarely use the web interface, I prefer Thunderbird, can see the full headers, get very little spam or other such rubbish anyway these days.

 

Call me paranoid but none of my E-mail accounts contain any personal data nor would I send anything confidential using e-mail. All the mail is deleted from computer and server as soon as read. Throw away, temporary e-mail accounts are used for subscriptions for questionable sites and none of data about me are real.

 

Mike, you are paranoid *Tongue

 

Thank you for confirmation, I was already paranoidly feeling paranoid. Does that mean I'm not ?

 

Hey John, let me add to his(and other members) paranoia...
Mike you might want to remove any facial images of yourself from the internet too.
They can be used to trick biometrics, including pics of the eyes for iris scanners.

 

Even that is a caricature and not real image. One of reasons is I don't want to scare anybody.