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How to cancel Sky email so as to setup Thunderbird.

  • 41 replies
  • 1 has this problem
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  • Last reply by Zenos

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Some 2-3 years ago I switched ISP from Sky to Plusnet, but my wife did nothing and continued to use Sky email, and somehow it still worked.

Last week her PC was infected with the new Locky ransomware, attempts to remove the encryption proving fruitless, it was necessary to wipe the disc and restore a 2 month old image.

Everything else is now OK, she still receives email from Sky, BUT IS UNABLE TO SEND MAIL as she has no idea of her password – the couple she uses on sites that are not security risks do not work. I am no longer a customer of Sky for TV or email, and Sky mail now goes through Yahoo, who do not offer support.

So I set her up on my Plusnet account, in accordance with the instructions on their site, but at the end it asks for her Sky password. Stalemate.

I phoned Plusnet support again and was told it would be necessary to cancel the Sky account on Thunderbird, but as they do not support TB, could not tell me how to do so.

Unless somebody here knows how to cancel the Sky mail without knowing user name or password, it looks as though she’ll have to make do with the inconvenience of web mail.

Some 2-3 years ago I switched ISP from Sky to Plusnet, but my wife did nothing and continued to use Sky email, and somehow it still worked. Last week her PC was infected with the new Locky ransomware, attempts to remove the encryption proving fruitless, it was necessary to wipe the disc and restore a 2 month old image. Everything else is now OK, she still receives email from Sky, BUT IS UNABLE TO SEND MAIL as she has no idea of her password – the couple she uses on sites that are not security risks do not work. I am no longer a customer of Sky for TV or email, and Sky mail now goes through Yahoo, who do not offer support. So I set her up on my Plusnet account, in accordance with the instructions on their site, but at the end it asks for her Sky password. Stalemate. I phoned Plusnet support again and was told it would be necessary to cancel the Sky account on Thunderbird, but as they do not support TB, could not tell me how to do so. Unless somebody here knows how to cancel the Sky mail without knowing user name or password, it looks as though she’ll have to make do with the inconvenience of web mail.

Chosen solution

Have you tried looking for stored passwords in Thunderbird? It's highly likely that the same password is used in both incoming and outgoing accounts.

Tools|Options|Security|Passwords→Saved Passwords

You are trying to connect to an account hosted by sky.com. You're lucky that they permit this, and that the account is still active, given that you're now using another ISP.

No-one has suggested you leave plus.net - it's just that the change has caused you trouble and you could avoid this if you should ever change ISP again.

gmx? try using a search engine. http://lmgtfy.com/?q=gmx

Cheap international phone calls? Have you not heard of skype, or google hangouts? You can make calls, voice and optionally with video, to anywhere in the world for effectively no charge.

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (20)

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Does the sky mail still show as an account in the Folder Pane of Thunderbird? If so right clcik it. Select Settings. At the bottom is Account Actions. Remove Account is there.

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she still receives email from Sky, BUT IS UNABLE TO SEND MAIL as she has no idea of her password

The password for sending mail is the same as for receiving mail. If Thunderbird has remembered the password for receiving mail look it up in Thunderbird Options (not Account Settings).

Note, there are are number of people who complained about not being able to send messages via the Yahoo SMTP server recently. Check with Sky/Yahoo if they have problems.

http://downdetector.com/status/yahoo-mail/map/

So I set her up on my Plusnet account, in accordance with the instructions on their site, but at the end it asks for her Sky password.

What have Plusnet got to do with Sky/Yahoo?

was told it would be necessary to cancel the Sky account on Thunderbird

You can remove the Sky account in Thunderbird any time, but the only effect will be, that you can't retrieve or send mail using Thunderbird anymore. It will do absolutely nothing to the account you set up with Sky in the first place.

Unless somebody here knows how to cancel the Sky mail without knowing user name or password

I don't think you can cancel an account without knowing user ID and password. Then we wouldn't need passwords at all.

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Airmail said

Does the sky mail still show as an account in the Folder Pane of Thunderbird? If so right clcik it. Select Settings. At the bottom is Account Actions. Remove Account is there.

Not shown anywhere

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Is Thunderbird involved in this new install at all? I am confused where you are being asked for the sky password.

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Airmail said

Does the sky mail still show as an account in the Folder Pane of Thunderbird? If so right clcik it. Select Settings. At the bottom is Account Actions. Remove Account is there.
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No Sky shown.

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Eventually found Options in TB, and there was a password - so much for security - one that I recollect using in the past.

I thought it would ow be possible to get Sky sending as well as receiving -iidaesteri@sky.com a lot shorter then e@georgelee3.plus.com. Spent at least an hour trying to get one of them to work with the password, without success. Q What have Plusnet got to do with Sky/Yahoo? As already explained, at the end of setting up a new Plusnet account, it askd for her SAky p/w, presumbly so as to receive mail from there.

Q Who told it would be necessary to cancel the Sky account on Thunderbird Plusnet support, but as they don't support Plusnet, unable to say how.

"I don't think you can cancel an account without knowing user ID and password. Then we wouldn't need passwords at all." Agreed, that's why it is infuriating that Yahoo don't offer any support.

Thanks for the suggestions, my wife will have to put up with web mail.

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An idea! Is there any chance of success if I set up a differt email client on the wife's PC? Not that I like the alternatives - Plusnet a poor substitute for late lamented OE - but at least it woudbe more convenient than web mail.

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so much for security

I have no idea what you mean.

I thought it would ow be possible to get Sky sending as well as receiving

As said before, Sky/Yahoo are currently having problems with sending mail.

at the end of setting up a new Plusnet account, it askd for her SAky p/w

I suppose you're trying to set up the account with the provider Plusnet. Why they do ask for a Sky account password is something you need to sort out with them.

Plusnet support, but as they don't support Plusnet, unable to say how.

Plusnet don't support Plusnet?

was told it would be necessary to cancel the Sky account on Thunderbird

I think Plusnet support don't have a clue what they're talking about. Just ignore that cancel rubbish.

Modified by christ1

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1. As said before, Sky/Yahoo are currently having problems with sending mail.

2. I suppose you're trying to set up the account with the provider Plusnet. Why they do ask for a Sky account password is something you need to sort out with them.

3. Plusnet don't support Plusnet?

4. I think Plusnet support don't have a clue what they're talking about. Just ignore that cancel rubbish.

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1. I don't thinkj that is the reason as it was working OK until I reinstalled the image. In any case, it states password incorrect.

2. They don't know, because they do not support TB, even though it works n my PC and did on my wife's PC

3. Sorry, it should read 'Plusnet do not support TB'

4. OK, so how do I make this work?

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I'd just walk away from sky and forget that account. You have stopped paying them, you have no continuing right to use the email account they offered whilst you were a paying customer. The fact that it continued to work after you left them is most likely an oversight on their part.

Set up a new email account for the missus. I'd advise NOT using one offered by plusnet because you'll have to go through all this same hassle next time you change ISP. Get an account with an external free email provider. GMX is my current favourite. Gmail is, technically speaking, an excellent service, though some are opposed to their intrusiveness. I wouldn't myself choose to trust my communications to either yahoo or microsoft (alias hotmail, live mail, outlook). Yahoo have a poor track record, and microsoft are going down the same route as Google, selling on or using for themselves the data they collect about you.

By and large, if you use a mail client, many of the negative aspects of these advertising-driven providers (the clunky websites, the advertising, the editorial content) are pretty much eliminated.

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Plusnet a poor substitute for late lamented OE - but at least it woudbe more convenient than web mail.
Eh? Surely what you call "Plusnet" is webmail.

And you don't have a choice to use OE any more, unless you keep an XP-vintage computer running.

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Zenos said

Plusnet a poor substitute for late lamented OE - but at least it woudbe more convenient than web mail.
Eh? Surely what you call "Plusnet" is webmail.

Plusnet is an ISP and email is delivered to Thunderbird, there is no need to go online as with webmail.

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Zenos said

I'd just walk away from sky and forget that account. You have stopped paying them, you have no continuing right to use the email account they offered whilst you were a paying customer. The fact that it continued to work after you left them is most likely an oversight on their part. Set up a new email account for the missus. I'd advise NOT using one offered by plusnet because you'll have to go through all this same hassle next time you change ISP. Get an account with an external free email provider. GMX is my current favourite. Gmail is, technically speaking, an excellent service, though some are opposed to their intrusiveness. I wouldn't myself choose to trust my communications to either yahoo or microsoft (alias hotmail, live mail, outlook). Yahoo have a poor track record, and microsoft are going down the same route as Google, selling on or using for themselves the data they collect about you. By and large, if you use a mail client, many of the negative aspects of these advertising-driven providers (the clunky websites, the advertising, the editorial content) are pretty much eliminated.
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Unfortunately it's not possible to just walk away, impossible to stop the Sky email arriving without knowing the password, or send anything from TB.

I must investigate whether it is possible to use two ISPs on the same phone number - somewhat reluctantly as that means another one to pay, and my wife has already given a huge amount to a scammer, so I shall have to pay it.

Cannot leave Plusnet because there is 8-9 months remaining on the uinlimited broadband contract, and I have no desire to do so, as they are cheap and seem to be the only ISP offering unlimited broadband and allowing use of the extremely cheap phone calls through 18185, which requires a BT phone line - this is important when the wife has many friends and relations in Finland. The only drawback with Plusnet is the long wait for technical support.

No idea what GMX is - Google perhaps? I'm trying to get her to make more use of her Yahoo webmail instead of getting everybody to use my my email, just restricting my use of my own PC.

Life was much simpler before computers were invented, now we depand on them.

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Ok this thread is amusing as a commody of sorts, but are any of the questions and answers actually being read? I really doubt it.

Lets start again with the account settings you have in Thunderbird. USing the instructions below, please post the mail and news accounts section of the troubleshooting information.

To find the Troubleshooting information:

  • Open Help (or click on three-line-icon and select Help)
  • Choose Troubleshooting Information
  • Use the button Copy to clipboard to select all. Do not check box "Include account names"!
  • Paste this in your post.

Perhaps with the accounts section we can work out where Sky comes into all of this. From the confused jumble I have read, I think the sky account may not actually be configured in Thunderbird. But we will see.

Just in the hope of belaying some of the questions.... GMX, Gmail, outlook.com/hotmail and AOL are all free email providers that are not associated with your ISP. If your mail account is with one of these, then you don't have to change every time you churn to a new ISP.

Most of the advice you have received til now is suggesting you forget the Sky email and the plusNet email and use something more stable like a free provider.

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Application Basics Name Thunderbird Version 38.7.0 User Agent Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; rv:38.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/38.7.0 Profile Folder Show Folder (Local drive) Application Build ID 20160310150025 Enabled Plugins about:plugins

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Thanks Matt,

The extensive notes I had put before Applicatioin Basics have disappeared, as the post exceeded the limit. So I will have to rewrite them again and forward.

Also, only part of the download has been sent, for the same reason. If information about fonts and printers, etc is needed, let me know and I shall send final part.

Sorry for the mess up, didn't known why only a part was there, until I noticed the message about length.

Modified by Matt

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Chosen Solution

Have you tried looking for stored passwords in Thunderbird? It's highly likely that the same password is used in both incoming and outgoing accounts.

Tools|Options|Security|Passwords→Saved Passwords

You are trying to connect to an account hosted by sky.com. You're lucky that they permit this, and that the account is still active, given that you're now using another ISP.

No-one has suggested you leave plus.net - it's just that the change has caused you trouble and you could avoid this if you should ever change ISP again.

gmx? try using a search engine. http://lmgtfy.com/?q=gmx

Cheap international phone calls? Have you not heard of skype, or google hangouts? You can make calls, voice and optionally with video, to anywhere in the world for effectively no charge.

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and hover your mouse over New message until sub menu appears.

From that menu select existing mail account. Add your mail details for plusnet.in the new account wizard.

Ok done... plus net added. Now as your sky mail continues to come in, I suggest you leave the account in Thunderbird until it stops working, but some changes are needed.

Right click local folder in the folder pane and select settings. Scroll to the bottom of the setting list to outgoing server (SMTP) Remove Sky from the list of SMTP server which now will include plusnet, you are not paying for it, so sending mail using it is just "not right"

Go up the list of accounts and select the sky account down the bottom on the right is an outgoing server (SMTP) for the account. make sure this points to plus net. In the reply-to address set your plusnet account

That setup should work for you to get sky mail and plusnet and reply using plusnet to both.

Now I do encourage you to go to GMX.com and create an email address Use it for your daily email. It will not change with ISP changes. The long term result is you do not have this drama with your next ISP change.

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