VERSION: 2022-01-19
Many people depends of e-mail services like Gmail to do business and they are complete hostage of Google's grace to keep their accounts. And there is a real possibility of automatic ban from Google. And it can make your life miserable in this scenario because you will lose both your email address and all mails saved to do business.
------------
MITIGATION PLAN
To mitigate such problem. I am creating this tutorial on how to avoid it as much as possible for a really small price tag.
This is the workflow we are aiming.
Clients/friends send e-mail to [email protected], the mail is forward to usual account A from gmail/outlook account. Thunderbird will backup/mirror the content from your account A. If you get banned, we just replace account A for account B and we are back to business.
GET YOUR OWN DOMAIN NAME
First step in the process is to get a domain for yourself. You need to take total control of your e-mail address period. And this is a protection (control) that will be valid for any number of years as you want.
To register a domain yourname.COM, many companies offer such service:
A small list
souce: https://tld-list.com/tld/com
But watch out for the renewal prices because it may be a big trap. I am talking about you goDaddy! You can pay a higher price if you only see the 1st year price and forget the renewal fees.
My personal recommendation is NameSilo.com because their price and 2 features that is required in our mitigation plan:
- free email forward
- free WHOIS privacy protection
E-mail forward: This is very easy to understand. You give [email protected] address to your contact and any e-mail sent to that address will be forwarded to your gmail/outlook account.
WHOIS privacy protection:
To register a domain, its required that you give personal info and it will be public available. That is bad. So this feature will create a shield to hide your personal info. Read more here
www.namesilo.com
Make sure to activate this feature wherever place you register your domain!!!!!!
If you are afraid of forgetting the yearly payment, don't worry. You can pay up to 10 years of registration in advance and each year you can just buy 1 year of registration to keep always 10 years paid.
------------
E-MAIL CLIENT
The good and old e-mail client from the start of internet is here to stay and save you! The e-mail client is what the name suggest, it will be a desktop application that you, may or may not use, to access/send/receive your emails OR just keeping using the usual method you like (browser, smartphone app).
We gonna use the e-mail client as backup tool in our plan! I personally only use the desktop software to read/send emails, no web browser for me.
The recommended client is Thunderbird from Mozilla Foundation
www.thunderbird.net
But I suggest you to use the portable version
https://portableapps.com/apps/internet/thunderbird_portable
Why? Because the software can be installed (all executable files and mail data) in a single folder making super easy barely an inconvenience to create a backup. Even simple Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V can do the job (or using a sync app to mirror folders between 2 hard drives).
Setup instructions:
Gmail: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/thunderbird-and-gmail
Outlook: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/thunderbird-and-hotmail
It will work with any mail provider that offer POP and IMAP access to email account.
Checking the Synchronization & Storage settings for the e-mail account (select the account and right click > settings).
------------
HOW TO USE:
Make sure to run Thunderbird daily so it can download and MIRROR the content from your gmail/outlook account to your computer.
------------
USING YOUR CUSTOM E-MAIL ADDRESS WITH GMAIL/OUTLOOK
Time to setup your brand new email address ([email protected]) into your Gmail/Outlook account.
Outlook:
support.microsoft.com
Go to settings in account:
Add email and verify
Outlook - Testing:
Composer:
- In the webmail page: you click FROM and a drop down list of e-mails you added to your MS account is displayed:
e-mail sent
thunderbird test result:
The FROM address is not from outlook.com yet I wrote from there.
Make your domain address be default FROM:
really weird place to define that :P
OPTIONAL STEP:
To avoid your emails marked as spam. Add this record to your DNS:
You can use these links as reference:
- https://support.google.com/a/answer/2716802?hl=en
- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/mi...-to-help-prevent-spoofing?view=o365-worldwide
This will advertise to the internet that emails with your domain name WILL be send from Microsoft servers ONLY. Don't add this line to your DNS if you are planing to send emails from other SMTP servers.
GMAIL:
Other Services:
Each service may or may not offer this feature of sending a mail using different "Sender's address" (ALIAS)... All of them probable allow you to setup the REPLY-TO with any email address. So you need check this out yourself.
------------
RECAP:
You can keep using your browser/smartphone app to check/send/receive email as usual and just making sure to run Thunderbird often (best daily) so it can download and MIRROR the content from your gmail/outlook account to your computer.
Or
You can just use Thunderbird to centralize your activities.
------------
FINAL WORDS:
Now your mails are secured in your computer! No more being hostage of Google to access yours mails. In case you get banned from gmail/outlook, you still have your e-mail address and a backup of old mails.
In case you get banned. Go to registrar where got bought the domain and change the email forward address to a new mail service. And then you change the info (IMAP/POP server) into your Thunderbird client and you are back in the business with little downtime.
------------
BONUS:
Backup made easy:
www.goodfirms.co
I use freefilesync. It's a powerful tool but take some time to setup it. You can use it to sync (mirror) the content from any number of directories into another location (external/secondary drive/network etc). This is the reason to recommend the Thunderbird's portable version.
demo: sync content from C: and D: drives to my backup drive E:
If you are lazy, you can create new entry to Windows's Task Scheduler to run a command to do a daily backup in the background for you :P
------------
Domain name suggestions:
- stick with .com domain names. Exotic extension are a pain to remember and prone to error (typing)
- make it short
- don't use numbers, hyphen or double letters
- easy to pronounce and spell to someone
If you feel luck, try looking for deleted domain names that are available again: https://www.expireddomains.net/deleted-com-domains/
I hope this help someone.
------------
CHANGELOG:
2022-01-28 - Added a note about SPF (Sender Policy Framework)
2022-01-19 - Domain prices updated.
2021-02-12 - A little complicate workaround to use yourdomain with gmail.
Many people depends of e-mail services like Gmail to do business and they are complete hostage of Google's grace to keep their accounts. And there is a real possibility of automatic ban from Google. And it can make your life miserable in this scenario because you will lose both your email address and all mails saved to do business.
------------
MITIGATION PLAN
To mitigate such problem. I am creating this tutorial on how to avoid it as much as possible for a really small price tag.
This is the workflow we are aiming.
Clients/friends send e-mail to [email protected], the mail is forward to usual account A from gmail/outlook account. Thunderbird will backup/mirror the content from your account A. If you get banned, we just replace account A for account B and we are back to business.
GET YOUR OWN DOMAIN NAME
First step in the process is to get a domain for yourself. You need to take total control of your e-mail address period. And this is a protection (control) that will be valid for any number of years as you want.
To register a domain yourname.COM, many companies offer such service:
A small list
Code:
registrar 1st year renewal
domain.com $9,99 $13.99/yr
namecheap $5.98 $13.98/yr
goDaddy $0.01 $18.99/yr
namesilo $9.95 $9.95/yr
porkbun $9.13 $9.13/yrBut watch out for the renewal prices because it may be a big trap. I am talking about you goDaddy! You can pay a higher price if you only see the 1st year price and forget the renewal fees.
My personal recommendation is NameSilo.com because their price and 2 features that is required in our mitigation plan:
- free email forward
- free WHOIS privacy protection
E-mail forward: This is very easy to understand. You give [email protected] address to your contact and any e-mail sent to that address will be forwarded to your gmail/outlook account.
WHOIS privacy protection:
To register a domain, its required that you give personal info and it will be public available. That is bad. So this feature will create a shield to hide your personal info. Read more here
WHOIS Privacy | Website Domain Privacy Protection | NameSilo
Protect your website domain from hackers and spammers looking to data-mine names, email addresses, phone numbers, and other sensitive information.
If you are afraid of forgetting the yearly payment, don't worry. You can pay up to 10 years of registration in advance and each year you can just buy 1 year of registration to keep always 10 years paid.
------------
E-MAIL CLIENT
The good and old e-mail client from the start of internet is here to stay and save you! The e-mail client is what the name suggest, it will be a desktop application that you, may or may not use, to access/send/receive your emails OR just keeping using the usual method you like (browser, smartphone app).
We gonna use the e-mail client as backup tool in our plan! I personally only use the desktop software to read/send emails, no web browser for me.
The recommended client is Thunderbird from Mozilla Foundation
Thunderbird — Free Your Inbox.
Thunderbird is a free email application that’s easy to set up and customize - and it’s loaded with great features!
www.thunderbird.net
But I suggest you to use the portable version
https://portableapps.com/apps/internet/thunderbird_portable
Why? Because the software can be installed (all executable files and mail data) in a single folder making super easy barely an inconvenience to create a backup. Even simple Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V can do the job (or using a sync app to mirror folders between 2 hard drives).
Setup instructions:
Gmail: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/thunderbird-and-gmail
Outlook: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/thunderbird-and-hotmail
It will work with any mail provider that offer POP and IMAP access to email account.
Checking the Synchronization & Storage settings for the e-mail account (select the account and right click > settings).
------------
HOW TO USE:
Make sure to run Thunderbird daily so it can download and MIRROR the content from your gmail/outlook account to your computer.
------------
USING YOUR CUSTOM E-MAIL ADDRESS WITH GMAIL/OUTLOOK
Time to setup your brand new email address ([email protected]) into your Gmail/Outlook account.
Outlook:
Add or remove an email alias in Outlook.com - Microsoft Support
Create an alias to give you an additional email address which uses the same inbox, contact list, and account settings as your primary email address in Outlook.com.
support.microsoft.com
Go to settings in account:
Add email and verify
Outlook - Testing:
Composer:
- In the webmail page: you click FROM and a drop down list of e-mails you added to your MS account is displayed:
e-mail sent
thunderbird test result:
The FROM address is not from outlook.com yet I wrote from there.
Make your domain address be default FROM:
really weird place to define that :P
OPTIONAL STEP:
To avoid your emails marked as spam. Add this record to your DNS:
You can use these links as reference:
- https://support.google.com/a/answer/2716802?hl=en
- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/mi...-to-help-prevent-spoofing?view=o365-worldwide
This will advertise to the internet that emails with your domain name WILL be send from Microsoft servers ONLY. Don't add this line to your DNS if you are planing to send emails from other SMTP servers.
GMAIL:
It kinda a mess to make it work on Gmail. Because the way gmail allow to use yourdomain in their service is to require a SMTP server. There is one way to use google's own SMTP server to bypass their stupid requirement.
1 - You need have to activate the 2nd factor authentication... You should be using it anyway.
www.google.com
2 - create an APP PASSWORD
- Go to security > App Passwords
- Select MAIL and give some whatever name
- GENERATE the code (16 chars string) and save for step 4.
3. Gmail > Settings > Account & Import
4. Use your gmail account info and the App Password from step 2
5. a verification code will be sent to your email ([email protected]).
6. Here you can see the email address has being added
Check the 2 extra configuration.
7. working.
Yeah is a mess... Outlook is so much easier.
OPTIONAL STEP:
If you want to make your e-mails avoid spam filter because SPF . Add this to your DNS
more info: https://support.google.com/a/answer/33786
This will advertise to the internet that emails with your domain name WILL be send from google servers ONLY. Don't add this line to your DNS if you are planing to send emails from other SMTP servers.
1 - You need have to activate the 2nd factor authentication... You should be using it anyway.
Authentication Tools for Secure Sign In - Google Safety Center
You can be vulnerable to risks when you sign in to accounts. Learn how our authentication tools and services help you sign in securely.
www.google.com
2 - create an APP PASSWORD
- Go to security > App Passwords
- Select MAIL and give some whatever name
- GENERATE the code (16 chars string) and save for step 4.
3. Gmail > Settings > Account & Import
4. Use your gmail account info and the App Password from step 2
5. a verification code will be sent to your email ([email protected]).
6. Here you can see the email address has being added
Check the 2 extra configuration.
7. working.
Yeah is a mess... Outlook is so much easier.
OPTIONAL STEP:
If you want to make your e-mails avoid spam filter because SPF . Add this to your DNS
more info: https://support.google.com/a/answer/33786
This will advertise to the internet that emails with your domain name WILL be send from google servers ONLY. Don't add this line to your DNS if you are planing to send emails from other SMTP servers.
Other Services:
Each service may or may not offer this feature of sending a mail using different "Sender's address" (ALIAS)... All of them probable allow you to setup the REPLY-TO with any email address. So you need check this out yourself.
------------
RECAP:
You can keep using your browser/smartphone app to check/send/receive email as usual and just making sure to run Thunderbird often (best daily) so it can download and MIRROR the content from your gmail/outlook account to your computer.
Or
You can just use Thunderbird to centralize your activities.
------------
FINAL WORDS:
Now your mails are secured in your computer! No more being hostage of Google to access yours mails. In case you get banned from gmail/outlook, you still have your e-mail address and a backup of old mails.
In case you get banned. Go to registrar where got bought the domain and change the email forward address to a new mail service. And then you change the info (IMAP/POP server) into your Thunderbird client and you are back in the business with little downtime.
------------
BONUS:
Backup made easy:
The Top 11 Free and Open Source File Sync Software
Just explore the features of the top 11 free and open source file sync software to select the best that suits your business.
www.goodfirms.co
I use freefilesync. It's a powerful tool but take some time to setup it. You can use it to sync (mirror) the content from any number of directories into another location (external/secondary drive/network etc). This is the reason to recommend the Thunderbird's portable version.
demo: sync content from C: and D: drives to my backup drive E:
If you are lazy, you can create new entry to Windows's Task Scheduler to run a command to do a daily backup in the background for you :P
------------
Domain name suggestions:
- stick with .com domain names. Exotic extension are a pain to remember and prone to error (typing)
- make it short
- don't use numbers, hyphen or double letters
- easy to pronounce and spell to someone
If you feel luck, try looking for deleted domain names that are available again: https://www.expireddomains.net/deleted-com-domains/
I hope this help someone.
------------
CHANGELOG:
2022-01-28 - Added a note about SPF (Sender Policy Framework)
2022-01-19 - Domain prices updated.
2021-02-12 - A little complicate workaround to use yourdomain with gmail.
Last edited:
