Is It Time To Kiss AOL, Hotmail & Yahoo Good Bye?

While enjoying this beautiful Atlanta weather and having lunch with a friend we pondered the question of “Is it time to kiss AOL, Hotmail & Yahoo goodbye?” Now we both have Gmail accounts but are hanging on to our AOL, Hotmail and Yahoo accounts. I personally do not have a valid reason for doing so other than I have had my accounts since email first became available and they have sentimental value. Of course I could use the great auto reply feature directing them to my gmail account yet I have this tiny fear I may miss that one important email so I dare not. Lol!!!!

My friend was sharing how frustrated she was with Hotmail because her email was hacked and high jacked by someone supposedly overseas and Hotmail was taking her through an Act of Congress to get her email back and charging her a $65 fee to get her FREE email account back. This truly frustrated her since this was a FREE email account yet she had to pay it to get access to her email account of at least two decades. This account contained many precious photos and so forth. So it was a no win situation as far as paying the $65 or not.

My question to you Keystrokes By Kimberly readers is as follows:

~ Is it time to say goodbye to your AOL, Hotmail & Yahoo accounts?

~ Have any of you experienced this? If so share your story please in our comment sections below.

~ What have you put in place to recover your account if it is hacked?

Here is information and tips we have gathered to help you from being in this challenging situation.

1. Change your password often (at least once a month) and make sure it includes letters and numbers.
2. Make sure you have an alternate email address associated with all email accounts.
3. Make sure you have a phone number associated with all email accounts.
4. Password or code word protect your account. {This is a GREAT to do with all accounts. Ex: Power, Phone, Gas, Water etc…}
5. Set up a Gmail account. They rarely get hacked and in the bottom right corner of the screen it will tell you the last time the account has been accessed. {How GREAT is this!}
6. Go do these things NOW. {smile}