We're launching our brand new Virgin Media Mail!

[VMboy]

Just received an email from Virgin Media about them going to introduce a new upgrade to your existing @blueyonder.co.uk email account.

A full copy of the email is copied below, but what worries me is were the mention the bit about attachments, does this mean we will not be able to send certain attachments via our email accounts?

I have highlighted the concerning part in red.

Hello,

At Virgin Media, we're always looking for ways to give you the best you can get from your broadband connection. Among other things, that means keeping you in the loop with our brand new Virgin Media Mail.

Virgin Media Mail is a shiny new upgrade to your existing @blueyonder.co.uk email account and it comes packed with great extras that we know you're going to love. Best of all, you don't have to lift a finger - we'll do everything for you and move your current @blueyonder.co.uk email account in January and send you a welcome email to tell you when it's all done.

Your existing @blueyonder.co.uk email address will still work, and we're not planning to change it. We'll also make sure that your emails and messages stay safe and sound, and are transferred over to your new account. However, for security reasons, certain file formats are not allowed as attachments in our new mail service, as they are very often used to distribute viruses or other malicious software.

A full list of these can be found at http://www.virginmedia.com/attachments, so you should back up any of these attachments as they will not be moved to the new service when your mailbox is moved.

We're sure you'll love our new, easy to use, super efficient system. And what makes it so great? Well, it's provided by Google, of course!

Check your Virgin Media Mail anywhere

One of the best things about using Virgin Media Mail through http://www.virginmedia.com is that you can stay in the loop, no matter where you are. You can get to your emails on almost anything that's connected to the internet, including internet-enabled mobile phones, without installing or configuring anything. We call this webmail.

If you're planning to access your emails on more than one device you'll want to make sure that all your messages are made available, so have a look at http://www.virginmedia.com/devices for some helpful advice.

Using Virgin Media Mail through webmail means you can:

- Import your contacts quickly and easily, which saves you typing them all out. If you've already set up contacts in your old @blueyonder.co.uk webmail account, we'll move them for you.
- Check your emails wherever you are with easy-to-use Google mail on your mobile phone
- Find that elusive email easily with Google search for your inbox
- Chat with other Google Mail users in your contacts
- No need to delete emails to clear storage space - just archive them as you now have 7000 MB of storage to use (that's gone up from 30 MB that you used to have!)

Virgin Media Mail and email programs

If you need help setting up and using Virgin Media Mail, there is more information at http://www.virginmedia.com/help/virginmediamail. And don't forget, you can always get in touch with us if you have any questions or problems, we'll be happy to help!

Happy surfing!

Mark Davidson
Executive Director, Customer Care
Virgin Media

---------- Post added at 01:08 ---------- Previous post was at 01:01 ----------

Just had a look at the file types that will be blocked and I can understand why, I was getting worried as I thought they meant word/excel docs and normal stuff like that.

Here is the info.

Some file types are blocked

As a security measure to prevent potential viruses, Virgin Media Mail doesn't allow you to send or receive executable files (such as files ending in .exe) that could contain damaging executable code.

We also do not allow certain other types of potentially harmful files, with ending as listed here: ".ade", ".adp", ".bas", ".bat", ".chm", ".cmd", ".com", ".cpl", ".crt", ".dll", ".hlp", ".hta", ".inf", ".ini", ".ins", ".isp", ".jse", ".lib", ".lnk", ".mdb", ".mde", ".msc", ".msi", ".msp", ".mst", ".ocx", .pages, ".pcd", ".pif", ".reg", ".scr", ".sct", ".shb", ".shs", ".sys", ".url", ".vb", ".vbe", ".vbs", ".vxd", ".wsc", ".wsf" and ".wsh".

Virgin Media Mail won't accept these types of files even if they are sent in a zipped (.zip, .tar, .tgz, .taz, .z, .gz) format. If this type of message is sent to your Virgin Media Mail account, it is bounced back to the sender automatically.

You can send and receive messages up to 20 megabytes (MB) total (including attachments). Any message that exceeds this limit will not be delivered to your inbox and will be returned to the sender.

I cant see how they will tell if you rar them up. Failing that just change the extension and put info in mail on how to change it back again

With 20 meg attachments hopefully the VM box will be big enough to handle plenty

[VMboy]

So is there any extension there that will cause us grief if we are not allowed to mail any of them?

[Trent]

I got this e-mail tonight... I am horrified..

If virgin media want to protect people then tell them how dont limit there ability to send particular files!

I often create .cmd files to automatically do things on friends pcs so I dont have to explain something technical to someone who doesnt care.. .bas files are useful as this is the standard file format for Visual Basic Files allowing me to create custom functions and pass them on to my friends.

There has go to be a way to stop this?? No??? Why not...

Looks like I am going to have encrypt them and send instructions on how to decrypt my attachments! or password protect the ZIP file!

Pathetic and completely useless VM

Hmmm, so protecting the users of their mail system is pathetic and useless ? ok ..........

[v0id]

Virginmedias rules are copied almost word for word from googles mail help docs anyway, so anyone who's been using google apps or gmail should be aware of them already

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/topic.py?topic=12834

Originally Posted by Trent

Looks like I am going to have encrypt them and send instructions on how to decrypt my attachments! or password protect the ZIP file!

yeah, you're not supposed to do that either if you read it.

[dav]

With this being provided by Google, are they going to be scanning our mail contents for ad opportunities? Will ads be attached to the bottom of our messages?
Wouldn't surprise me.

[Peter_]

I do not see any issue at all, they are giving you a bigger inbox 7000Mb against the present 30Mb which is far to small and causes many calls about being unable to send/receive email due to people not periodically deleting emails in their account.

They are trying to ensure that the mail system stays secure and is virtually identical to googlemails own terms and conditions regards sending extensions.

But regardless of any improvements made to the system people will always find something to moan about.

This will not be altered and if you feel the need to send such extensions in your email then try http://gmx.com/

[Mr_love_monkey]

does that mean we're losing access via smtp?

[Peter_]

Originally Posted by Mr_love_monkey

does that mean we're losing access via smtp?

No still the same.

[VMboy]

As being the starter of this thread I just wanted to say that in no way was I complaining or moaning, I was just a little worried and fully understand the reasons behind it all.

Originally Posted by Moldova

I do not see any issue at all, they are giving you a bigger inbox 7000Mb against the present 30Mb which is far to small and causes many calls about being unable to send/receive email due to people not periodically deleting emails in their account.

They are trying to ensure that the mail system stays secure and is virtually identical to googlemails own terms and conditions regards sending extensions.

But regardless of any improvements made to the system people will always find something to moan about.

This will not be altered and if you feel the need to send such extensions in your email then try http://gmx.com/

the 7 gig inbox is an improvement deffo makes it usable instead of pointless lol

As far as extensions are concerned ive already said how to get round it easy enough

[Nano Jake]

So whats the difference between this and an ordinary free Gmail account? [apart from the address].

some people use their VM based email account as their main account and others use Gmail simples lol

[Nano Jake]

So we are paying for a service that is essentially offered free.