Ex NTL Server deleting messages

[NThellewest]

I use OE6 to view my e-mails, but have always had it set to leave the messages on the NTL server, deleting when they are either deleted from OE or I manually delete from my NTL mail account.

All was fine until August when I realised I was not getting mails that I should be. I logged into the NTL account and found that all my saved messages up to 25 August were all there, but anything after that date was gone.

I also saw messages appear and then disappear before having a chance to read them The only messages it was keeping was spam!

Phoned BB support, got the usual man in Mumbai who could not deviate from his script, which bore no relation to my problem. Give him his due when he realised how much the call was costing he offered to call me back. As I waited for his call (Only about 5 mins) I was in my NTL mail account when right before my eyes every saved message disappeared! When he rang back I asked if he had been in my account. He said yes he had. I told him he had managed to wipe all my saved messages off the server. He denied it saying it must be my computer. He then said he could help no further as they had a problem and he could not access the same information as in the UK but if I logged back into my e-mails in a couple of hours they would all be back ! Yeah Right!

In September it actually saved a couple and has done the same this month.

Incidentally, don't know if this is a related issue but have also been getting occasional double messages into OE with one header and when I open them one is the correct mail and the other bears no relation to the header, is a completely different e-mail and is encrypted. Again when speaking with BB support, they cannot help.

Please can anyone help shed any light on the issues.

[Mick Fisher]

Very odd, are you sure you are not infected by something?
I despaired with the then Ntl's email service long ago but that was due to it's being down as often as it was up. These days I use gmail from it's excellent (IMO) web interface. I do still have my ntlworld account and have set gmail to forward mail to it. I check it now and again and usually delete everything as it is all duplicates and spam but I see none of the issues you are experiencing.
I do not see how anything going on with VM's mail server or support staff could possibly account for your emails, that are stored locally, getting deleted.

[Mr.X]

If you've been leaving a copy on the server then it sounds like maybe your mailbox was full and unable to receive any more mail.

When you delete anything from webmail remember to delete any sent items and then empty your trash.
These all count towards your mail quota.

Sounds like tech support have gone into your mailbox and deleted these for you. In order for them to do that you must have given them your login password as they would not have access to it.

[NThellewest]

Hi gentlemen,

Thank you for your responses. Not showing any signs of virus. Use full version of VM PCguard. Run auto scan every day and nothing has ever shown.
Re server being full - as I said in original posting I regulary delete mail from both OE and the NTL account. If ever it should get near the watermark I have had a mail from NTL advising. All my emails that I had saved on the server were there dated up to Aug 25. From that date something happened. The messages that were saved were only lost at the exact moment that the BB tech was in the account just a couple of weeks ago.
He asked for my password to verify that the saved mails were there and also as he was sending me some information, which, I saw appear as he sent it and then it disappeared as I watched. Whatever he did wiped the stored messages.

[Mr.X]

Hi gentlemen,

Thank you for your responses. Not showing any signs of virus. Use full version of VM PCguard. Run auto scan every day and nothing has ever shown.
Re server being full - as I said in original posting I regulary delete mail from both OE and the NTL account. If ever it should get near the watermark I have had a mail from NTL advising. All my emails that I had saved on the server were there dated up to Aug 25. From that date something happened. The messages that were saved were only lost at the exact moment that the BB tech was in the account just a couple of weeks ago.
He asked for my password to verify that the saved mails were there and also as he was sending me some information, which, I saw appear as he sent it and then it disappeared as I watched. Whatever he did wiped the stored messages.


You would be better of with a G mail account or something like that. A couple of photos and your NTL account will be full. Its got a 25MB limit, if I'm not mistaken.
You've also got little or no come back as the mail is classed as a complimentary service

[Mick Fisher]

Ditto Mr.X
Also, don't rely too heavily on VM PCGuard. It's not been very highly thought of in the past by users.
AVG anti spyware is a good malware scanner that you can have for free if you forego the resident shield option after the 30day trial is up.
Free AVG anti virus has proved to be good too, although lately,for me, it's been coming up with far to many false positives and in the absence of an ignore feature I have been forced to dump it but YMMV. It's certainly worth a look.
Failing that I recommend you get a second opinion now and then from some of the many on-line scanners that are out there.

[moaningmags]

It's also possible he set your account up in his outlook express which auto
downloaded all your mails without saving them on the server.

[NThellewest]

Thank you all for your interest.

I have used various Anti virus products including AVG but I find it is not as good as it used to be some years ago. I liked NTL Netguard and not had any problems, so stayed with it.

Your angle moaningmags is not one I had considered, especially as my initial problem did start some time before I spoke to BB support guy.

[Toto]

There is a limit as to how long read email can be stored on the old NTL servers, but for the life of me I can't find it. Essentially when X amount of days has expired, the read email is automatically deleted from the server.

I'm sure there's something on this site with that info, I'll poke around when I get the chance.

[NThellewest]

The messages that were stored were only from April 2007 at the longest. They only disappeared whilst the Tech was in the account.

The new e-mails are coming into the account and then disappear in seconds. Most auto download into OE but some don't. The messages not being on the server mean if I want to access mails off another pc I cannot as they are not there.

[Toto]

I think its 90 days for read messages, but your problem appears to be more technical than normal.