Transfer your old emails to the cloud
How can I easily transfer emails from my old internet provider to Gmail?
[ BERNADETTE WALLIS ]
Rob Mead-Green replies: You could simply forward them on to your Gmail address, but the following technique is quicker, and should work with other cloud providers such as Hotmail, too. We’ve used Thunderbird here ( www.getthunderbird.
com), but you should be able to adapt it to your own particular email client. Log into your Gmail account at mail.
google.com using your web browser. Click Settings and select the ‘Forwarding and POP/IMAP’ tab. Scroll down, select Enable IMAP and then click ‘Save Changes’ to access Gmail through your email client. Open your email client and add Gmail as an additional account — in Thunderbird, select ‘Local Folders’ and click Email under ‘Create a new account’. Skip the new address prompt, type your Gmail address and password and click Continue.
Leave IMAP selected, then click Done. You’ll need to sign in to Google and authorise the connection to complete the process. Thunderbird will now begin to download all your mail (including any folders) — you don’t have to wait for it to finish.
Now you can now simply transfer your messages by dragging them from your old account email into the desired folder on Gmail (you could set up a dedicated folder
for this purpose). They should automatically sync online when you’re next connected. [ WINDOWS ] Is this setting dangerous? I’ve read that WPAD is enabled by default in Windows 10, and that it’s dangerous. What is it, and are the warnings correct? [ HUNTER TRAVIS ] Nick Odantzis replies: WPAD stands for Web Proxy Auto-Discovery, and is a setting related to the configuration of a proxy server. Proxy servers are typically used by organisations — such as companies and schools — to configure a connection to their network, which means, for most people, it’s not required. However, past versions of Windows 10 enabled the setting by default, which provides a possible security loophole were you to connect to a public Wi-Fi hotspot that was configured for malicious intent. To cut a long story short, if your PC is only ever connected to a single network at home, the setting isn’t dangerous. However, if you’re using a laptop or tablet and often connect through public Wi-Fi networks, such as at a café or airport, it’s best to disable the setting. To do this, go to ‘Start > Settings > Network & Internet > Proxy’ and flick the ‘Automatically detect settings’ switch to ‘Off’. You’ll now be able to surf safely. [ SECURITY ] How did Bitdefender get on my iMac I erroneously opened an email that appeared to be from a friend. In it was a link to a site promoting a weight loss product. A little later, I inadvertently ran an app called Bitdefender that had appeared on my Mac. Is my Mac now infected? [ EARL HILL ] Ian Sleightholm replies: Bitdefender is actually intended to clear out iffy software, rather than being malware itself, but some of its approaches to getting you to sign up for an ongoing subscription could be considered controversial. We’d recommend you remove it if the install wasn’t intentional, and avoid doing anything that could bring you to install other unwanted apps on your Mac: the next one could be malicious.
Mercifully, Bitdefender has its own removal tool, which you should use as soon as you can. If you are looking for tools that are completely free yet invaluable to detect and prevent malware, visit objective-see.
com, as the tools there are written by one of the leading experts in Mac security. Check your iMac with those and you can be confident that they’ll detect any malware you may have acquired. It’s absolutely vital that you don’t click on links in messages unless you’re certain that they are genuine and trustworthy. If you have the slightest doubt, don’t follow them: move on to the next message and, when you have a bit more time, return and check out the previous message in more detail. Your Mac is only one click away from disaster.