Yahoo may block third-party mail applications

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Drugwash
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Yahoo may block third-party mail applications

Post by Drugwash »

If I'm not mistaken Yahoo has been taken over by Verizon and is in the process of changing a lot of things (for the worst, in my opinion). They already cut the bridges with older messenger protocols (starting August 31st) which leaves users of older operating systems and/or alternative messaging applications unable to communicate.

Today I have received a notification fom Yahoo stating:
We’ve noticed that you access your Yahoo Mail from a non-Yahoo email application that may be using less secure sign in technology. […]
Further down, instructions:
We strongly recommend that you improve the security of your account, by taking the steps below.
[…] On desktop, use Yahoo Mail via: https://mail.yahoo.com
Turn off access for apps with less secure sign in, using the link below: https://login.yahoo.com/account/security#other-apps […]
At the last link above there are worrying warnings:
[…] We may block email applications that use a no longer recommended sign in method from accessing Yahoo accounts. We recommend upgrading to an app with up-to-date sign in security measures to better protect your account.

While we don’t recommend granting access to apps that use a less secure sign in method for the reasons mentioned above, for the time being, you can temporarily choose to allow access.
(emphasis mine)

I am really worried about the future of my Yahoo accounts in case Pop Peeper cannot keep up with the new protocols.
Jeff, can this be overcome without resorting to drastic measures such as removing backwards compatibility with, say, older OS versions such as Windows XP? (I won't mention 98SE/ME with KernelEx)
Because when push comes to shovel I'd rather abandon all my Yahoo accounts forever than use that inane web interface. And same goes for AOL, which apparently was acquired by Verizon too, a little earlier.

I've taken a couple screenshots to back up my claims in case something changes on the web side:
Attachments
20160827091759-edited.png
2016-08-27_09.20.53.png
Last edited by Drugwash on Sat Aug 27, 2016 5:32 am, edited 2 times in total.
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spc3rd
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Re: Yahoo may block third-party mail applications

Post by spc3rd »

Hi Drugwash,

Thank you for your informative post which Jeff and other members of the Esumsoft Team will be reviewing later.

** I removed the second screenshot included in your topic because it contains personally-identifiable information - specifically your actual email address in the headers. This is to protect your security/privacy and prevent spambots from harvesting your email address.

Please re-post the screenshot after you have edited/obscured the part of your email address before the "@" symbol.

Thank you and best regards,
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Drugwash
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Re: Yahoo may block third-party mail applications

Post by Drugwash »

Hi spc3rd,

Thank you for your concern. Screenshot has been edited and reattached. Wasn't very important though.

Off-topic:
I'd like to ask a question concerning the blog, if I may. I just tried to comment on the anniversary announcement and I'm not getting through. I'm used to the WordPress system, filled in the required data correctly but comment doesn't show. Is there any moderation applied in case of links and/or formatting tags such as bold/italic/strikeout/etc? I'm trying to comment in a relatively stylish manner including a screenshot hosted on my own blog but maybe that's just too much. There is no notification though as to such restrictions or about comment being held in moderation, unless I'm missing something. Wondering if you could shed some light on this. If not, it's OK anyway. Thank you.
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spc3rd
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Re: Yahoo may block third-party mail applications

Post by spc3rd »

Drugwash wrote:Hi spc3rd,

Thank you for your concern. Screenshot has been edited and reattached. Wasn't very important though.

Off-topic:
I'd like to ask a question concerning the blog, if I may. I just tried to comment on the anniversary announcement and I'm not getting through. I'm used to the WordPress system, filled in the required data correctly but comment doesn't show. Is there any moderation applied in case of links and/or formatting tags such as bold/italic/strikeout/etc? I'm trying to comment in a relatively stylish manner including a screenshot hosted on my own blog but maybe that's just too much. There is no notification though as to such restrictions or about comment being held in moderation, unless I'm missing something. Wondering if you could shed some light on this. If not, it's OK anyway. Thank you.
Thanks for re-posting the edited screenshot, Drugwash.

I just did a test, clicking on the link to the blog shown in the Announcement topic here, and left a comment there myself. After clicking the [SUBMIT] button, the blog displayed my comment along with the notation it is awaiting moderation. (It displayed the aforementioned info just above the fields where I entered my name, email address, etc).
Unfortunately, I'm at a loss to explain what happened when you tried to leave a comment & did not see the same thing as I did.

Also, from what I can recall, I do not believe BB code is permitted in blog comments - only plain text, nor can images/screenshots be inserted/attached either. Jeff is the best one to answer your inquiry about the blog since he alone manages it.

He should be stopping by the forums later today. I'll send him a little advance note to give him a 'heads-up' about your inquiry here shortly.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help with the blog questions. :(
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Drugwash
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Re: Yahoo may block third-party mail applications

Post by Drugwash »

Thank you again for the test. No idea why the notification is not there for me, I've checked all security add-ons in browser (Pale Moon 25.8.1), there's nothing obvious blocking anything on that page. Comment number should be 18544 (there may actually be two of them, I've tried twice with and without image link).

As far as I know WordPress usually allows certain HTML tags in comments (such as <strong> <em> and even formatted links) as well as image links posted alone on a new line, unless some plug-in strips them or blocks such comments automatically. No BBCode, obviously.
Maybe the only issue is the missing notification, we'll see if Jeff approves it when he gets there. No biggie.

I've saved the first comment's content, here it is, for reference. No need to remove the image link, it's public.

Code: Select all

<strong>Happy belated birthday to Pop Peeper!</strong> :)
Hopefully it will keep up with latest (undesired) changes performed by e-mail providers. ;)

Out of curiosity I've searched my software catalog and found the very same old version 2.3.1 on a CD burned in 2004, along with v2.3.2 and v2.3.4. So apparently we're old acquaintances. :)

Now let me show you how <strong>Pop Peeper 4.2</strong> looks on my old and beloved <strong>Windows 98SE</strong> machine in 2016 (hopefully it works):

http://drugwash.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/pp42-w98se-201608271.png
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mjs
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Re: Yahoo may block third-party mail applications

Post by mjs »

Welcome to the forum Drugwash,

To avoid this issue, try using IMAP in POP Peeper to access your Yahoo accounts instead of using Webmail, i.e. change the "Server type" from "Yahoo" to "IMAP" (Edit account > "General" tab to do this, note: for POP Peeper v4 changing the "Server type" to "IMAP" changes all other required settings automatically).

This should solve your problem, I would add however that when using IMAP you have the additional option of using the OAuth2 security protocol as discussed HERE (Note: OAuth2 is only available for IMAP and only for GMail, Yahoo and Hotmail).

Your problem is presumably because you are using the "Webmail" (Yahoo) protocol in POP Peeper and have your Yahoo accounts set to use "less secure apps" as illustrated below (in your Yahoo account under "Account Info" > "Account Security"):
Yahoo email using less secure apps.png
There shouldn't be a problem using this setting, but apparently Yahoo is in some cases deciding to make it a problem unfortunately.
Good judgment comes from experience and a lot of that comes from bad judgment. - Will Rogers
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Drugwash
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Re: Yahoo may block third-party mail applications

Post by Drugwash »

Hi, lakrsrool,

Thank you for the welcome and directions. Actually I've been around for a while, just not "visible". :)

All my accounts were already on IMAP from the very beginning but I always avoided logging in from the web and I had no idea about OAuth2. I've just enabled OAuth2 earlier after reading around and for now it's all fine and dandy. Not sure about the future though, there are so many unwanted changes that break almost everything we've known for years and I, for one, don't like change at all. Too much to say on this subject but it's not the right place. As they say "hope for the best but prepare for the worst" - and I know the worst is yet to come.
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mjs
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Re: Yahoo may block third-party mail applications

Post by mjs »

I'm very much with you Drugwash, I most definitely do not like change either - but I'm afraid we can rely on the fact that "change" will always inherently remain the unavoidable nature of our cyber world unfortunately. I'm surprised to hear you were getting these Yahoo warning messages using IMAP, but that said, using the OAuth2 security protocol should presumably resolve the issue. :wink:
Good judgment comes from experience and a lot of that comes from bad judgment. - Will Rogers
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Drugwash
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Re: Yahoo may block third-party mail applications

Post by Drugwash »

Actually it's not change that bothers me but the ill-willing removal of choice. It first started when Windows 9x began being bashed and compatibility with it removed from newer software. Now it's 2000/XP and soon the others going down the drain for no real reason other than money. Protocols are being changed precisely for that reason: planned incompatibility and obsolescence.

Along those lines it shouldn't be a surprise to be getting warnings and notifications through channels that were supposed to last longer. They can do whatever they like with absolutely no regard to the end user. Sad thing is most users will comply to new standards because they don't have the courage to say 'no'. Compromise seems to be the new virtue. :(

My apologies for the rant. :oops:
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Jeff
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Re: Yahoo may block third-party mail applications

Post by Jeff »

As you've already discovered, enabling OAuth2 is the way to go. Following in Gmail's footsteps, they are forcing it on accounts.

I use(d) Yahoo Messenger myself since the early 2000's. ummm... yeah, not much to say that hasn't already been said by literally every other YM user:
https://forums.yahoo.net/t5/Messenger/bd-p/Messenger
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Jeff
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Re: Yahoo may block third-party mail applications

Post by Jeff »

I forgot to mention -- I found your post in the blog and restored it. It was placed in trash and not in the moderation queue. I use a blacklist to weed out the spam and I suspect that it was your name that caused a false-positive. Although, the image you linked to is 404...
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Drugwash
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Re: Yahoo may block third-party mail applications

Post by Drugwash »

When GMail started to "accidentally" delete messages sent by me to a couple recipients (after being visually acknowledged by that yellow strip saying "your message has been sent") I deleted my GMail account and blocked everything Google on my computers. I'm not playing around.

I've been a volunteer for Miranda IM's help & support forums for about five years (circa 2004-2009) and instant messaging was flourishing back then. The official Yahoo aplication has always been a piece of s***. Now we are not allowed alternatives anymore, Big Brother wants complete control. :(

Thank you for restoring the blog comment. There should be a little problem: after posting I realised there was an e-mail address visible in the image so I deleted the initial image and replaced it with an edited one. However, as with all nowadays' systems, the image was not deleted but only hidden and the new one - although bearing the exact same filename - was uploaded under a different name. If you ever find the time and will to edit my comment, please use this image link instead: http://drugwash.files.wordpress.com/201 ... 608271.png

By the way, my nickname reflects my real name in an English spelling and it's been around the Internet for about fifteen years. One would think America would realise this world is really big and sometimes very different and even weird from some points of view, but nevertheless we are all humans and maybe we deserve at least one chance…

Thanks again Jeff and good luck with all your projects! =D>
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Jeff
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Re: Yahoo may block third-party mail applications

Post by Jeff »

Sorry for the late reply -- it's been updated now. I think it's safe to say I've never seen anyone use that combination of color before ;)
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Drugwash
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Re: Yahoo may block third-party mail applications

Post by Drugwash »

Yeah, I'm unique that way. :) Actually the settings of the monitor used with the 98SE machine are such that the colors don't look that intense. I wouldn't mess with the theme now though, hopefully I'll be forgiven for that. :oops:

Strange that I haven't been notified of your reply, found it just now when logging in for another reason. Anyway, since my last post I have also deleted all three Yahoo accounts so I don't have to worry anymore about OAuth2 and any other possibly upcoming c**p. All I got now is the old AOL account and a Mail.com account. They still work for now (but who knows for how long…).
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