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Is it safe to delete old e-mail accounts?

TheDestructiveSquirrel

TheDestructiveSquirrel

Member
Oct 25, 2017
28,167
Do ISPs or other services like Gmail, Outlook, Hotmail, Live etc.... allow other people to make a new account with previously used usernames?

Like if you delete a Microsoft account, can someone make a new one with the same name after a certain time period?

That would be pretty dangerous if you delete an account without realizing that you may have some really old account still linked to it that may still send you an e-mail after several years.
 
Handicapped Duck

Handicapped Duck

▲ Legend ▲
Avenger
May 20, 2018
13,676
Ponds
Who deletes email accounts. Everyone I know just forgets they had them, like old MSN accounts, and they are left to collect spam mail for eternity.
 
Eila

Eila

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,949
In the past they used to let you retake deleted emails. I remember "hacking" accounts for a gaia online doing this.
That being said, hotmail at a least would delete emails for inactivity. These days I don't think that happens for any of the services.
I'd recommend just setting safe passwords for all of them and let them rot.
 
Snormy

Snormy

I'll think about it
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
5,140
Morizora's Forest
Some ISP allow for emails that have been dormant/inactive for x period to be recycled. There is usually a procedure involved. Generally when you leave an ISP or they won't nuke the associated emails but mark set them as inactive.

Some places like google don't recycle email addresses. You can submit a request for deletion and they do so to a point but the address itself does not recycle afaik.
 
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OP
TheDestructiveSquirrel

TheDestructiveSquirrel

Member
Oct 25, 2017
28,167
Eila said:
In the past they used to let you retake deleted emails. I remember "hacking" accounts for a gaia online doing this.
That being said, hotmail at a least would delete emails for inactivity. These days I don't think that happens for any of the services.
I'd recommend just setting safe passwords for all of them and let them rot.
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Hmm maybe

I know that with MS you can't even make new accounts that aren't Outlook so that should mean hotmail is safe, I think?

It's hard to find a straight answer by googling
 
defaltoption

defaltoption

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
11,528
Austin
The one time I did it (not by choice) I regretted it on multiple occasions throughout the years later. I had 2 gsuite accounts completely vanish after I stopped using their service, I thought the mail would convert to regular gmail accounts or something and still be searchable but nope. I wasn't gonna keep paying monthly to Google who I was ditching just for my emails.

I say just put a good password and let them sit, unless they're paid which likely means they'll be taken down if you stop paying.
 
survivor

survivor

Member
Oct 25, 2017
583
TheDestructiveSquirrel said:
Hmm maybe

I know that with MS you can't even make new accounts that aren't Outlook so that should mean hotmail is safe, I think?

It's hard to find a straight answer by googling
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Does MS not let you merge old Hotmail accounts with new Outlook ones? That's my current setup at least. I can still see emails sent to my Hotmail account through my Outlook inbox, but you cannot login with the Hotmail address. So it's pretty safe unless someone also knows what my Outlook address is
 
Conditional-Pancakes

Conditional-Pancakes

The GIFs of Us
Member
Jun 25, 2020
10,886
the wilderness
It depends on the service, check their documentation. The important thing is that the email address cannot be recycled once the account is deleted.

For example, deleting a Gmail account is supposed to be safe:

Delete your Gmail service - Computer - Google Account Help

If you don't want your Gmail address and emails anymore, you can remove them from your Google Account. Deleting them won't delete your entire Google Account. What happens when you delete your Gmail s
support.google.com
What happens when you delete your Gmail service

- Your Gmail address can't be used by anyone else in the future.
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Snormy

Snormy

I'll think about it
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
5,140
Morizora's Forest
survivor said:
Does MS not let you merge old Hotmail accounts with new Outlook ones? That's my current setup at least. I can still see emails sent to my Hotmail account through my Outlook inbox, but you cannot login with the Hotmail address. So it's pretty safe unless someone also knows what my Outlook address is
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I have a merged account and I can login with hotmail address from the outlook webpage, not sure about any of the apps or exchange services. That said, I've got like a handful of MS accounts for different purposes now.
 
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TheDestructiveSquirrel

TheDestructiveSquirrel

Member
Oct 25, 2017
28,167
survivor said:
Does MS not let you merge old Hotmail accounts with new Outlook ones? That's my current setup at least. I can still see emails sent to my Hotmail account through my Outlook inbox, but you cannot login with the Hotmail address. So it's pretty safe unless someone also knows what my Outlook address is
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I don't want to keep it lol

I guess I can always put a super long password and 2fa but if I could delete it and not have to worry that someone else can recycle the username and domain I'd be happier with that
 
survivor

survivor

Member
Oct 25, 2017
583
Snormy said:
I have a merged account and I can login with hotmail address from the outlook webpage, not sure about any of the apps or exchange services. That said, I've got like a handful of MS accounts for different purposes now.
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There is a setting to disable that so you can only login with the Outlook one. I did that after I noticed tons of unsuccessful attempts to login with the Hotmail address.
 
Snormy

Snormy

I'll think about it
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
5,140
Morizora's Forest
TheDestructiveSquirrel said:
I don't want to keep it lol

I guess I can always put a super long password and 2fa but if I could delete it and not have to worry that someone else can recycle the username and domain I'd be happier with that
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If it is MS then I think you're safe. They stopped recycling addresses a while ago I believe and given always going to be important I doubt they'll release the name in the next 100 years if at all.
If you choose to keep as I do, use a PW manager and set it 2fa to your actual e-mail account or something like that.

survivor said:
There is a setting to disable that so you can only login with the Outlook one. I did that after I noticed tons of unsuccessful attempts to login with the Hotmail address.
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Thanks, I'll look into it.
 
Rory

Rory

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,159
TheDestructiveSquirrel said:
Do ISPs or other services like Gmail, Outlook, Hotmail, Live etc.... allow other people to make a new account with previously used usernames?

Like if you delete a Microsoft account, can someone make a new one with the same name after a certain time period?

That would be pretty dangerous if you delete an account without realizing that you may have some really old account still linked to it that may still send you an e-mail after several years.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
u cant create hotmail anymore. Thats why i stick to mine. Its a unique adress.
 
Aarglefarg

Aarglefarg

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,074
TheDestructiveSquirrel said:
You were able to make a hotmail account in 2019?
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I checked when I made a post there and it was in December 2018. It's an @hotmail.com address created from the Outlook website.

You can still create one. Go to the Outlook website, click the button to create a new email address, and there's a dropdown to pick between Outlook and Hotmail addresses. I took this screenshot just now:

8BMKZkn.png
 
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TheDestructiveSquirrel

TheDestructiveSquirrel

Member
Oct 25, 2017
28,167
Aarglefarg said:
I checked when I made a post there and it was in December 2018. It's an @hotmail.com address created from the Outlook website.

You can still create one. Go to the Outlook website, click the button to create a new email address, and there's a dropdown to pick between Outlook and Hotmail addresses. I took this screenshot just now:

8BMKZkn.png
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Oh, I was mistaken then
 
Bluelote

Bluelote

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,024
well, you can't create @ msn emails!

I just keep old emails, make a very random strong password and you are not going to be hacked... (unless keylogger or something I guess lol)
 
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