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Time for change?

How to easily change an email address.

H ow long do you usually keep your car before trading it in?

How long since you upgraded your computer?
Have you had the same email address for over 10 years?
Maybe it’s time for a change.
Often I am asked about how to change an email address. Sometimes a client has been
‘hacked,’ and their email and password have been compromised. Sometimes the amount of
junk mail, or ‘Spam,’ becomes a relentless barrage that cannot be held back. There are several
solutions to these dilemmas, including creating a stronger password, unsubscribing (when it
is a legitimate site) and using junk mail filters.
Sometimes it is easier to start fresh with a new email address, and I will describe that
process in this article. Depending on the email service that you’re using and how much effort
you want to put into things, changing your email address can be either easy or difficult. More
with. Continue to monitor your ‘old’ address for
likely, it will be closer to the easy side if you plan and follow the steps reviewed here. By the
any stragglers that did not get the notice, and you
way, there is no direct option of changing the email address in many of the popular free email
can notify them of your new address as needed.
services like Hotmail, Gmail or Yahoo. The best is to get a new email address and either
forward messages from the old one or delete the previous account altogether.
It is a good idea to keep your current email active if creating a new one for usage. This Updating your accounts
will allow you to monitor the old account and check for any messages from senders not Rather than trying to sit down and remember
aware that your email has changed. As you would have guessed, I do not recommend all the places your email address is stored online, do
deleting an email account which you’ve been operating for a few years. Why? Because it as you go. Fill out the change of address forms
it's time consuming. First, all the people whom you know will have to be informed of the on sites you are registered with as you return to
change; secondly, you’ll lose all the information including email messages, attachments them, this will make the task less daunting. If you
and contacts; and finally, you may face horrendous problems if you’ve used that email try to sit down and change all your emails on every
address as the username or as the primary contact address at other services. The last point, site in one sitting, you will likely end up crying.
especially, should not be taken lightly. Just do it as you go and it will not seem like an
Next, you can decide on a new email provider, or you can reserve your own domain insurmountable task.
for email. There are several free services: Gmail (yourname@gmail.com), Apple’s iCloud One reason to keep the older email active is
(yourname@me.com) and Yahoo! (yourname@yahoo.com) are some of the largest. Another that you can use that when you need to fill out a
option is to get your own domain (www.yourname.com) and then you have a personal email form that requires an email address, this will help
address (you@yourname.com) that is unique and memorable. This can be done for around you keep the junk separate form the valid emails.
$30 per year. You could also create a second new email address,
After you create the new account, you will need to send out an electronic ‘Change of often called an alias, which you could use only for
Address’ notice. This should be simple and to the point, it will go to those friends, family forms and shopping, to help filter any resulting
and associates that you correspond with regularly, we will address other accounts later. You junk mail.
have probably received several such emails from your friends, this time it is you who will be Changing your email does not have to be a
sending it. Here is a simple template: difficult process, and by following the steps listed
it should be an easy endeavor. And when you do
Subject: My New Email Address have that new, unblemished email account setup;
Message Body: Effective immediately, my new email address will be example@example.com. Please enjoy the empty mailbox for a day or two before
copy this address and paste it into your address book, replacing my prior email address. you notify anyone, and
Thanks! remember when times
Jeff were simpler.

• Important: Send this email only from your new email address, and make sure to put
all the recipients into the BCC field to avoid sending your entire address book to everyone.
You now have a fresh, clean email account that is only known by those you shared it

Jeff Bohr | Naples Mac Help 239.595.0482 | jeff@jeffbohr.com