Mac Mail messed up! Help please!

Hi,

I am a new Mac convert and I messed up already! not a good start but i heard Mac users are friendly?

I have forgotten my mac mail pass word and I must have set the wrong DOB because when i go to Mac help it will not accept it???

How can I bypass this and start again from a clean slate? can I reinstall only the mail program?

I also installed Thunderbird but got lost when it asked for username on...??? mail.riseup.net??? or something???

I need mail bad!

can anyone help a newbe?

Tallone

Do a Spolight search for for a mail file that ends in .plst (it will be somethig like com.apple.mail.plst or some such). Delete it. This should reset mail to the out of the box condition and you can setup your mail stuff again from scratch.

baggss said:

Do a Spolight search for for a mail file that ends in .plst (it will be somethig like com.apple.mail.plst or some such). Delete it. This should reset mail to the out of the box condition and you can setup your mail stuff again from scratch.

Click to expand...

Hi,

I deleted every file ending in .plst but I am still getting the same thing.

It is still asking me for my password?

Is there a way to get around this or to make a new clean install and start again?

Thanks,

Tallone

Have you tried contacting Apple?

http://www.apple.com/support/dotmac/mail/

Form at the bottom. They may be able to change the details for you? I'm assuming it's your .mac mail account password you have forgotten? In this instance deleting your preferences wont help.

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Tallone said:

Hi,

I am a new Mac convert and I messed up already! not a good start but i heard Mac users are friendly?

I have forgotten my mac mail pass word and I must have set the wrong DOB because when i go to Mac help it will not accept it???

How can I bypass this and start again from a clean slate? can I reinstall only the mail program?

I also installed Thunderbird but got lost when it asked for username on...??? mail.riseup.net??? or something???

I need mail bad!

can anyone help a newbe?

Tallone

Click to expand...

When you configure Thunderbird it asks you for your email address, username password, and these are the same you use to log into your webmail.

Riseup must be your ISP and you need to enter mail.riseup.net into the field which asks for Incoming Mail Server and it should be the same for the Outgoing Mail Server too. I guess the type of account is POP too.

~

I don't have Thunderbird installed on a Mac, but maybe you'll be lucky enough that it will use Apple's Keychain technology. That is what a well behaved Mac app would do. So...

Go into the Applications/Utilities directory and open the Keychain Access application. Click on All Items and look for a name that has someting to do with passwords and your email account. Double click on the line of interest and a small window will appear. Click on the Show Password check box. Enter you Mac user login password, and the email password will appear.

Good luck.

xstep said:

I don't have Thunderbird installed on a Mac, but maybe you'll be lucky enough that it will use Apple's Keychain technology. That is what a well behaved Mac app would do. So...

Go into the Applications/Utilities directory and open the Keychain Access application. Click on All Items and look for a name that has someting to do with passwords and your email account. Double click on the line of interest and a small window will appear. Click on the Show Password check box. Enter you Mac user login password, and the email password will appear.

Good luck.

Click to expand...

Hi,

The password did appear but when I go back to Mac mail and type it in it still will not work?? It also will not work on the Mac web site??

What can I do now?

is this your .mac account? If you can't remember and DOB is wrong I think you will have to contact Apple..

I'd go with Adam's suggestion.

Note that the .Mac service free trial is only 60 days. If that is what you have, are you beyond the 60 days? I've always believed this includes the e-mail feature too.

Tallone said:

Hi,

The password did appear but when I go back to Mac mail and type it in it still will not work?? It also will not work on the Mac web site??

What can I do now?

Click to expand...

I'd recommend contacting your ISP. They can help you setup your mail clients. If you don't know your username, password, or server information, there's nothing we can do to help.

If you're talking about .Mac then you need to contact Apple if you don't remember that information.

In the future, please be as clear as possible when posting your problem so we can help you more easily.

Hi Guys,

Well now i am really confused. I followed all your suggestions but nothing worked.

I emailed mac support and got back an email that looks more like spyware asking for my billing address? Billing for what?

below is just a sample of the email:


>Thank you for contacting .Mac Customer Support.

I am sorry to hear that you are having difficulties logging into your .Mac account.

I would be happy to reset your password for you. Kindly provide the following information:

1) The answer to your secret question: "who is your daddy"?
2) Your birthday
3) Your billing address

This is to ensure that I modify the correct account.<



The email is very long and more interested in money and personal details and it came apparently from: [email protected]

I thought Mac was free of this kind of thing? I don't have any AV software because i thought i didn't need it for Apple??

Also I have only been on line for one week. Do I have spyware?

Anyway, as my Mac Mini is only two weeks old so i could perhaps burn a CD of the docs and files i was working on and reinstall to start from scratch? Is this possible or is it madness?

Without my passwords and email this machine is no good to me

All help is welcome and thanks for not jumping all over a clueless Mac newbie

Tallone

Don't respond to the e-mail, just call Apple support and have them reset your pass word.

Any system that can get e-mail can get the note asking for personal information, that is not a virus. I believe it is called phishing.

erm if he was expecting contact from Apple after contacting them isn't it feasible that they did send the email?

Tallone said:

I would be happy to reset your password for you. Kindly provide the following information:

1) The answer to your secret question: "who is your daddy"?
2) Your birthday
3) Your billing address

This is to ensure that I modify the correct account.<



The email is very long and more interested in money and personal details

Click to expand...

Those don't seem to have anyting to do with money... they seem more like standard identification verification questions. As the email states, they would like to ensure they modify the correct account.
Still, the best thing to do in a case like this is to simply call them on the phone. That way you get it taken care of right away and don't have to worry for a reply in an email, nor do you have to send any information over the internet.
Just take a couple minutes and ring them up to get the matter settled.
:black:

Thanks for all the help but after lots of clicking I remembered my password and I also got back my admin pass too. So now i am in the wonderful world of mac.

Thanks,

Tallone