OT - Email Problem

Hate to say it...

John in NM

But that sounds like malware to me.

I don't really know what to do about it, run some of the malware cleansing software I guess (I run linux systems, don't know much about malware).

One thing that used to be a big help on a windows machine was to setup all regular use accounts as limited accounts. Last windows machine I had I set up that way, and on the one occasion when there was some malware it was easy to circumvent because it only affected the login that was active when it infected the machine. Easy enough to go in from another log in and clean up everything from the day when it popped up. Admin logins traditionally are best used that way. Perhaps things have changed though, these days it seems like my methods are dinosaur like to the phone kiddees who now run the IT world.

Re: OT - Email Problem

David Yoho

Ralph, the fact that you're still able to use Outlook Express in Windows suggests you're still running Windows XP. If I remember right, I had to drop OE when I moved from XP to Win7. I started using Windows Live Mail in Windows 7 and actually I'm still using it in Win 10. Neither XP or 7 are supported my Microsoft any longer, which means no more security updates. You might think about upgrading.

Past experience suggests there's an issue on your computer and running something like Malware Bytes might help. Also you might want to change your email password you use with your Internet provider just in case. Then change it in Outlook Express so it will get your mail.

Re: OT - Email Problem

Bill Howatt

What operating system are you using? Outlook Express (not Outlook itself) was last supported on Windows XP although it did continue to work sometimes with some fudging on later Windows. Are you really using Outlook Express?

When I've had continual requests for login credentials the problem has been the email client not getting connected to the server for some reason usually because the mail server itself was down, not my PC.

I suggest you call your provider and ask them if there are any problems.

Bill

Question

David Yoho

Do you use the sbcglobal.net for mail or yahoo? If sbcglobal.net then the problem could be there.

Re: OT - Email Problem

Lee Schierer in McKean, PA

On your computer locate the directory where all your incoming and outgoing message files and any other mail folders files you have. Copy these files to another directory. Then delete your email account. Once that is done set up a new account. Once the new account is set up move the files you copied to the location of the new files your new account established, rename them to match the name of the new files if they are different. You should be back in business.

My experience too

Tim Greif - West of Chicago

I run Outlook on machines with Win 7 pro and Win 10 pro. In the past, I've gotten the repeated requests for username and password on both machines. I use the IMAP server on Yahoo's sbcglobal.net account. When this happens, I can use my Android phone and Yahoo's web mail interface with no problem but the Outlook interface keeps asking for credentials. This almost always goes away by itself after a day or two. I've always written it off as a mail server issue with the Outlook interface. Give it a day or so and let us know if it fixes itself.

Good Point

David Yoho

Of our two email providers, recently we've experienced the same issue with our gmail accounts. Eventually they go back to working probably for the reason you explained.

Re: OT - Email Problem

Brian gunsmith From colorado

I use UBUNTU Linux with Evolution mail client against the qwest email system using pop.

I get the same results. Periodically, Evolution asks me to enter my name and password again.

My theory is that the email client is "eating" all forms of error responses and treating them all as though your name and password have been rejected. Reality is some other problem exists. I don't reenter my name and password and eventually the problem goes away indicating that the name and password WERE NOT the problem. In a previous life I worked on the ARPANET and implemented a mail client sender that used SMTP. There are many return codes that could end a session that have nothing to do with name and password. It is simpler for a client program to eat all codes and treat them like name and password problems.