Lost E Mail

[JohnC]

Scenario is this, after many problems with the wireless internet in my condo the engineer took my laptop outside so he was near the wireless booster, he returned after nearly an hour, I now find that my yahoo mail box has been cleared! No in mail, no deleted mail, no sent mail, all gone. Is there any way to recover nearly six years worth of mail? contact yahoo perhaps? anyone have any experience on this?

[ksamuiguy]

Sounds like the e mail box was deleted. Stop using your computer as the new data may overwrite the deleted data.<br>there are lots of  data and mail recovery  "free" programs on the net. Google  "e mail recovery programs downloads free".<br>Read each description carefully, the data should be recoverable, he may also have deleted the Icon on the desk top.<br>Go to Programs in the start menu and see if your e mail program is there.<br><br>Good Luck, I know the feeling. Back up the e mails as soon as you recover them, there are also a lot of good free e mail backup programs out there.<br>

[JohnC]

No the e mail box etc is still there as is recent mail, its the older stuff that has disappeared.

[howto]

Slightly confusing... first "all gone" then "recent items are there".  

Please tell us what email app you are using. Outlook, Outlook Express?

I assume you are downloading mail from yahoo to a inbox on your pc? 

 

Check to see if "Archiving" has been turned on.

That could account as to why older items are missing and recent emails remain.

Very easy to tic that option.  

Actually it is a bit of work to delete all mail in multiple folders,  

did you say the folders are still there?

Consider the effort required to delete all mail in every folder,

then to delete that from the trash folder.

For that to have happened implies malicious intent,  

but recent items are still there? So did he miss some? 

 

That recent mail and folders are still there implies

the ".pst" file is not corrupted/damaged.  

So it would seem to me that "archiving" being turned on, upon the main inbox,

would explain the disappearance of that much email. 

 

I hope that the option "delete old mail" was not tic'ed.

If indeed the mail has been deleted,

as mentioned there are many free apps for recover.

If you have to go that route, make a copy of the main database and work on it.  

In the interm, you can create a new .PST file, use it for current send/receives.

This would provide an additional safeguard to the existing data file,  

which you should make 1~2 copies of,  

and work to recover data from one of the copies.  

(Assuming that the data isn't already sitting in a archived data file)  

BTW, there are several free apps that will automatically back up the data file.  

Please keep us posted and best of luck.

Edited December 28, 2010 by howto

[drum]

slightly of this topic,but ive been having problems with email accounts,every time I open email yahoo,hot mail,gmail, im being asked to verify ive asked for new pass word,which I have not,

I have a PC in Thai and one I use in UK, is it possible some one is trying to open my mail,or even some spyware as been trying to access my pc

[howto]

Hi Drum,

Yes, your post is off topic and

you would get far more help by starting a new thread.

Unusual that 3 web-based mail accounts are not accepting the password.

Yes, a virus/trojan is a possibility.

If you have used

a internet cafe or a computer at school to access these accounts

then it is possible your account name/password was stolen by a keylogger.

In these cases the accounts password often has been changed.

A/V scans of your computer are called for...

I suggest using a friends computer to attempt access the accounts.

I don't recommend doing this in a internet cafe.

If it works, your computer has a problem.

If it fails then assume the accounts have been compromised and

your computer may have a problem.

One can contact the support of yahoo/hotmail/google and let them know.

Please do start a new thread for more help.