These places get destroyed awful fast by you rowdy people...

For some reason I really enjoy reading about your restaurant visits, Decrepit. I hope your Christmas visit will be just as nice as this one!

Merry Christmas Chorrol !!!

HEY...Who said you could take a picture of my living room? Where's the cameras?


Anyway have a great Holiday Season and a Happy New Year.

I got on Nexus to check out the mods for Fallout 4; and tried to log into my account there. I had the correct user name and Password; (and could have answered any "secret questions" if they asked them) = but they said that they changed their policy in 2017 and members that have been away from their accounts for 6 months will no longer be allowed to sign into their account without verifying it is the correct person via an email.

Well, of course they had my old email since I have been playing ESO for years and haven't been over there to change it. (forgot to).

Then when they realized I was trying to access a Lifetime Premium account; they told me I also needed to show them a receipt for the Premium membership to access that account.

Well, of course any receipt they sent me 3-5 years ago would have been on my old email account; which I no longer have access to. And I haven't been on Paypal since 2015; so they have my old email too; so getting my records from them is going to be a "no."

So I have been digging through my house trying to find the bank statement showing one PayPal transaction that went to Nexus YEARS ago. Until I find it; they won't let me on my account. I no longer have access to my mods; my mail over there; etc. = nothing.

The fact that my current (paid and installed in my home) Email account is the exact same name (only the service provider was different because I'd moved). = that didn't phase them; they said I could have just used that same email name to trick them if I was a hacker. They even said that my (installed and paid) Email service from Comcast was no different than if I'd run out and picked up a Gmail account in that name just to help me bypass their security measures.

(like there isn't a huge difference between a free online Gmail account and a provider like Comcast who installs equipment into your house and charges you $170.00 every month to use their Email).

So they think I chose to use the same name back in 2016 (before they instituted the new rules) and paid that huge amount every month = just so three years later (after they changed their rules) I could suddenly act? It doesn't even begin to make sense.

I even pleaded with them to check with the administrators on Chorrol/TESAlliance/etc. to verify I am THE mALX; but they refused.

So anyway; be on notice not to let 6 months pass on your Nexus account; if you haven't been on in a while. I can't even download any mods until they let me into my account. Well, technically I could start a new account; but I shouldn't have to give up my 10 year history with Nexus or access to my mods; so I'm fighting it.

Urk.

Having to change your email provider can be a real pain. The ISP I started with went bankrupt, and their assets were bought by another company, who in turn went bust, too. The company that took over then, closed my account. Each time there were sites that insisted in sending all notifications to the original one, and treated any new email addresses as additional, rather than replacement.

Now I run my own email server, at my own domain, so I only have myself to blame. I've currently got that set up so it can only receive emails, and not send, which prevents anyone trying to forward spam through it. Since verification emails send an HTTP link for confirmation, it works well enough.

My web site had similar problems, with the DNS control being out of my hands until I registered my own domain. That covers web, mail, and everything else I may want to do.

It is really frustrating. I didn't know you could make a server just for email; that is really genius!

My son advised me a long time ago to use Gmail instead of using the service providers; but that was actually said over this same email I have now (I had issues with validating my ESO account two years ago over this exact same thing).

While I could have separate boxes, the mail server and web server run on the same one. It's just a question of the router directing the traffic according to the incoming port. Multiple boxes is in the plans, but the to-do list gets longer ever time I look at it.

It is amazing that you are able to figure all that out! I do have an old computer that is a 10 gig HP tower with Windows 98 upgraded to XP on it. Could something like that be used as an Email server?

Yes, older machines with a Linux server build work quite well. The load is quite light, and mine uses an Intel Atom processor and not much memory. I think the disk draws more power than the processor.

The issue may be getting a fixed IP address for your system from your provider. I had to have a business line for that (so Verizon could charge more) and register my domain with GoDaddy or someone like that for the DNS service. The last part's cheap -$10 a year is typical.

You may even be able to download a completely configured Linux system, and not have to learn much about setting it up.

I would have to change it to a Linux?

I have kept that PC intact to play "Chips Challenge" on it = it is the last computer I have that can play it. Would it still be able to play the Microsoft Entertainment Package?

If you want to use an old box, that's going to be the only way. You just can't find versions that will run on XP, especially as most Windows ones are made for the Server OS, rather than the desktop one. Linux will generally run on smaller, older machines, as you can strip it down to just the parts you need.

Hmmm, I'd have to think about that because it would mean I'd have no way to play "Chips" again. The OS on that PC comes with "Outlook Express" if I'm not mistaken, would that help?

mALX should do as did; buy a retro computer on ebay and transfer all the old games there

Outlook Express is a mail client, not a server. You'd need Exchange (M$) or Mercury (donationware), or a few others. I used Mercury for a while, and it worked well.

Drinking some coffee as we speak.

BOLD: Oops...but actually; that shows the extent of my knowledge about computers and software,




If I was still able to drink coffee; that would be me 24/7. I'd have to write on here only the times I WASN'T drinking coffee,






This post has been edited by mALX: Jan 5 2019, 05:24 PM

Treydoggie - I don't know if you live on a hill or not; but I'll be worried about you till I hear you are okay! They had flash flood warnings and all kinds of evacuations going on today. You okay?

All good here- no rivers or streams nearby- and we are a good way up a hill. That said, our next door neighbor's yard and driveway were full of water (which was backing up from the runoff ditches) and said water was running across the street to ANOTHER neighbor's yard, and then waterfalling over a brick retaining wall and so on down to the (eventual) floodplain and intermittent stream.

Thank you for thinking of us

Hope you (and anyone else affected by this major storm) are okay- some wild pictures from north and west Knoxville- including the fire truck that tipped over when the edge of the road gave underneath it(!)