Email

[HUSKER55]

I had a guy from YAHOO tell me today that if your computer is running slow it is because your software is not handling the delete files correctly and deleted emails. He said he found about 20,000 emails on my computer and said that AVG, Malware Bytes and etc did not work either.

One of the computers in the house would list the deleted emails at the end of the new ones.

He fixed the problem and cleared out the emails but said the program he had that would work was $120. YAHOO customer service is 3rd party, I guess.

I thought delete meant delete. Guess not. I give up. Actually I gave up a long time ago. :D

Does anyone here know what he is talking about?

Thanks!

[DJofSD]

How did this conversation get started -- did you call Yahoo?

Is the email problem the reason why the conversation was started or was it something that was brought up by the Yahoo rep?

[Marshall Bennett]

I know MSN hotmail saves deleted emails, but under tools or options is another tab to delete those as well. I've never thought about Yahoo, but I must have a ton there if the same holds true. Glad you posted.

[DJofSD]

As I read the Wiki article about Yahoo Mail, it says you are likely using their email service in IMAP mode.

If that's correct, are you using it strictly via a browser interface or are you using an email client such are Thunderbird configured to access Yahoo Mail?

[Flysofree]

I have no idea ... But this seems crazy. I have 2 yahoo email accounts. One I created maybe 10 years ago that I rarely (maybe once a year look at) and a current yahoo email account that I use often. The old yahoo account, when I check it, has 600 plus spam email waiting to be deleted. I do that once or twice a year. So that's 1200 deleted email. My main yahoo account get 75 to 100 spam emails PER DAY, which I delete. If they aren't being deleted, than I would probably not even be able to use my computer it would be so slow. I just think maybe yahoo is trying to sell you something, but maybe I'm wrong. (One thing I don't know about is the profile being made public, which I do not use...not sure that would have any affect ). :confused:

[headhawg]

As I read the Wiki article about Yahoo Mail, it says you are likely using their email service in IMAP mode.

If that's correct, are you using it strictly via a browser interface or are you using an email client such are Thunderbird configured to access Yahoo Mail?Great question, DJ. I personally wouldn't set up IMAP with a Yahoo or Gmail account but that's me. Webmail (viewing email in a browser) shouldn't download any email to the local machine. That's the advantage -- you can check email on a public computer without having to worry that it's stored locally. And if you use a client like Thunderbird, emails will be deleted when the folders are compacted. As I don't know the whole story I'm not sure what the Yahoo guy was trying to sell. There's dozens of reasons why a computer can run slow, and the "deleted" email reason wouldn't crack the top 50.

[Longshot6977]

I had a guy from YAHOO tell me today that if your computer is running slow it is because your software is not handling the delete files correctly and deleted emails. He said he found about 20,000 emails on my computer and said that AVG, Malware Bytes and etc did not work either.

One of the computers in the house would list the deleted emails at the end of the new ones.

He fixed the problem and cleared out the emails but said the program he had that would work was $120. YAHOO customer service is 3rd party, I guess.

I thought delete meant delete. Guess not. I give up. Actually I gave up a long time ago. :D

Does anyone here know what he is talking about?

Thanks!

Can you explain what this means in the 1st bolded portion when you say these apps did not work. They aren't designed to delete e-mails.

In the 2nd bolded portion, how did he fix the problem? Was he in your house at the PC? Doing it remotely? We all recently advised against remote access in another thread. These guys will always say their product is better to get more sales from the uninitiated.

In the 3rd bolded portion, deleting a file doesn't really delete it. Here's a brief simple analogy---When you throw out the waste baskets in your house, you usually throw them into a larger container in the back of your house. You did delete the trash from your house/PC, but it still exists on your property/PC until you bring the trash cans to the curb to be hauled away by the trash company. That is why you can usually undelete files since they haven't really been truly deleted/written over with other files. The recycle bin, in essence, is just a temporary holding bin. There's more to it than that, but I just wanted to keep it simple.

[Flysofree]

I should have said "EMPTY" rather than "delete" the spam... I thought they meant the same thing.

[HUSKER55]

I will try to explain this again...but don't hold your breath. I didn't follow it the first time. First off, I always thought that if you used yahoo that you were on their "page". How those emails loaded up is beyond me. When Mary checked her computer this A.M. she had emails from 4 years ago on her screen.

I have no idea where they came from or how. The tech rep came onto the computer and started rewriting some files and pretty soon, maybe 30 minutes, the box came up empty and he reset her page.

There was a long list of errors but he wanted $120 to fix them.

His contention was that AVG, Malware Bytes and etc, did not deal with emails in an appropriate manner. That is where we got lost. One of their jobs is to keep virus out of emails, right?

Our repair guy is out in the field till next Wednesday so we are going to wait. He does small business and corporate repair.

He did call. According to him, several months ago, yahoo had a lot of problems maintaining their web page and people were getting a different web page almost every day. His opinion is that somehow the repair missed us and he simply fixed it but there is no way to know for sure till he gets back.

I am not computer savy and I don't get this at all.

Thanks guys for your replies!

[headhawg]

I will try to explain this again...but don't hold your breath. I didn't follow it the first time. First off, I always thought that if you used yahoo that you were on their "page". How those emails loaded up is beyond me. When Mary checked her computer this A.M. she had emails from 4 years ago on her screen.
(Perhaps they were always there and she changed the sort order to show the earliest date first.)

I have no idea where they came from or how. The tech rep came onto the computer and started rewriting some files and pretty soon, maybe 30 minutes, the box came up empty and he reset her page.
(How do you know that he rewrote files? Do you know which ones and why?)

There was a long list of errors but he wanted $120 to fix them.
(What kind of errors? Did he give you a list? What specifically is he fixing for the buck twenty?)

His contention was that AVG, Malware Bytes and etc, did not deal with emails in an appropriate manner. That is where we got lost. One of their jobs is to keep virus out of emails, right?
(I have no clue what the hell he is talking about. Did he tell you that there were email attachments with malware?)

Our repair guy is out in the field till next Wednesday so we are going to wait. He does small business and corporate repair.

He did call. According to him, several months ago, yahoo had a lot of problems maintaining their web page and people were getting a different web page almost every day. His opinion is that somehow the repair missed us and he simply fixed it but there is no way to know for sure till he gets back.
(I've got multiple email accounts and have no idea what he means by different pages. What kind of repair?)

I am not computer savy and I don't get this at all.

Thanks guys for your replies!None of this sounds right to me. Either there's some important information that you're not mentioning or this is a scam for $120. Or worse. Yahoo has tech support that calls? Is this some kind of pay version of Yahoo mail?

[tupper]

The tech rep came onto the computer and started rewriting some files and pretty soon, maybe 30 minutes, the box came up empty and he reset her page.

[snip]

He did call.I recommend that you turn off your computer immediately, and go to another computer (or boot a live CD/DVD) and change all of your passwords ASAP!

You especially want to change all of the passwords on your banking, credit card, paypal, betting and shopping sites, and, of course, Yahoo Mail.

[Marshall Bennett]

From what I read on my Yahoo email account, when it's deleted...its gone for good. All I have is the basic free account. They said there was a specific option of retreaving deleted emails, but had to be done through separate notification. I'd say a fee would be charged.
This is unlike MSN hotmail where there is an option to save deleted emails. Haven't checked AOL or Gmail, I have accounts there, but seldom use.

[horses4courses]

Definitely has the hallmarks of a scam.

tuppers advice above sounds best to me - change all your important
passwords on another computer using a different server - as fast as you can.