More help needed here.

Post by Mike Ruddock
However, I have a laptop which runs (if that is not too flattering a
word) Win 10 and I wish to be able to receive upon it the emails which
are mostly handled by the desktop. When I try to do this I am asked for
the password for the email account. I can't remember it (I have been
using my present email address for a number of years). I asked British
Telecom if they could tell me what it was and they said that it was
something known only to me and my computer. How do I get the computer to
reveal it?

If you try to log onto your email, on the BT Internet website, there
should be an option to click to say you've forgotten your log in
details. This should prompt them to reset your password for you.
Having changed your password, you will then have to update both machines
to hold your new password.

--
Best wishes, Serena
She generally gave herself very good advice, (though she very seldom
followed it). (Lewis Carroll)

Philip Hole

2020-11-02 12:08:05 UTC

Post by Mike Ruddock
However, I have a laptop which runs (if that is not too flattering a
word) Win 10 and I wish to be able to receive upon it the emails which
are mostly handled by the desktop. When I try to do this I am asked
for the password for the email account. I can't remember it (I have
been using my present email address for a number of years). I asked
British Telecom if they could tell me what it was and they said that
it was something known only to me and my computer. How do I get the
computer to reveal it?

If you try to log onto your email, on the BT Internet website, there
should be an option to click to say you've forgotten your log in
details. This should prompt them to reset your password for you. Having
changed your password, you will then have to update both machines to
hold your new password.

Serena's answer is the best you will get.

When you are asked to set up a password, it is buried deep in the [BT]
computer. No one can access it.

When you are asked for the password your response is sent deep in the
computer and the computers response is 'yes' or 'no'.

---

Two programs which may help:

Mailwasher. Scans all your incoming emails. Reads the text part of each
email - preventing malware or viruses getting as far as your computer.
Emails can be deleted en bloc from the servers here.

Lastpass. Stores all logins on a cloud. Master password to access.
Websites, personal details, bank/card details etc. So far has not been
hacked.

That's all

--
Flop

Peter

2020-11-02 13:20:11 UTC

Post by Philip Hole

Post by Mike Ruddock
However, I have a laptop which runs (if that is not too flattering a
word) Win 10 and I wish to be able to receive upon it the emails
which are mostly handled by the desktop. When I try to do this I am
asked for the password for the email account. I can't remember it (I
have been using my present email address for a number of years). I
asked British Telecom if they could tell me what it was and they said
that it was something known only to me and my computer. How do I get
the computer to reveal it?

Serena's answer is the best you will get.
When you are asked to set up a password, it is buried deep in the [BT]
computer. No one can access it.
When you are asked for the password your response is sent deep in the
computer and the computers response is 'yes' or 'no'.
---
Mailwasher. Scans all your incoming emails. Reads the text part of each
email - preventing malware or viruses getting as far as your computer.
Emails can be deleted en bloc from the servers here.
Lastpass. Stores all logins on a cloud. Master password to access.
Websites, personal details, bank/card details etc. So far has not been
hacked.
That's all

I should begin by saying that I know nothing about these matters. But I
think one can reasonable doubt two of your claims

(1) "it [the user's password] is buried deep in the [BT] computer. No
one can access it." The user's password need not be stored on a BT
computer. When the user submits his password it is mapped (by a
so-called "trap door" function to some string which will be stored.

(2) "So far has not been hacked." How would one know? Hacking such
things might be a GCHQ tea-break entertainment. If they succeed,
they're not going to tell us that they've done so.

--
When, once, reference was made to a statesman almost universally
recognized as one of the villains of this century, in order to
induce him to a negative judgment, he replied: "My situation is
so different from his, that it is not for me to pass judgment".
Ernst Specker on Paul Bernays

Peter

2020-11-02 16:19:45 UTC

Post by Philip Hole

Post by Mike Ruddock
However, I have a laptop which runs (if that is not too flattering a
word) Win 10 and I wish to be able to receive upon it the emails
which are mostly handled by the desktop. When I try to do this I am
asked for the password for the email account. I can't remember it (I
have been using my present email address for a number of years). I
asked British Telecom if they could tell me what it was and they
said that it was something known only to me and my computer. How do
I get the computer to reveal it?

Serena's answer is the best you will get.
When you are asked to set up a password, it is buried deep in the [BT]
computer. No one can access it.
When you are asked for the password your response is sent deep in the
computer and the computers response is 'yes' or 'no'.
---
Mailwasher. Scans all your incoming emails. Reads the text part of
each email - preventing malware or viruses getting as far as your
computer.
Emails can be deleted en bloc from the servers here.
Lastpass. Stores all logins on a cloud. Master password to access.
Websites, personal details, bank/card details etc. So far has not been
hacked.
That's all

I omitted a bracket. I meant

When the user submits his password it is mapped (by a so-called "trap
door" function) to some string which will be stored.

(2) "So far has not been hacked." How would one know? Hacking such
things might be a GCHQ tea-break entertainment. If they succeed,
they're not going to tell us that they've done so.

Nick Leverton

2020-11-02 14:22:40 UTC

Post by Philip Hole

Post by Mike Ruddock
However, I have a laptop which runs (if that is not too flattering a
word) Win 10 and I wish to be able to receive upon it the emails which
are mostly handled by the desktop. When I try to do this I am asked
for the password for the email account. I can't remember it (I have
been using my present email address for a number of years). I asked
British Telecom if they could tell me what it was and they said that
it was something known only to me and my computer. How do I get the
computer to reveal it?

If you try to log onto your email, on the BT Internet website, there
should be an option to click to say you've forgotten your log in
details.Â This should prompt them to reset your password for you. Having
changed your password, you will then have to update both machines to
hold your new password.

In a well written and secure system, the password will never be stored
at all. What should be stored is the output from a small program which
converts the password into an undecipherable value, via what's called a
"hash function". Hash functions used for this purpose are sufficiently
complex that it would take a very long time (anywhere from decades up
to the lifetime of the Earth) to try to decode the hash value back
to a password.

Then, when your browser sends a password (and hopefully you are doing this
with https to prevent evesdropping of this critical bit of the chain),
the web server on the [BT] computer will run the same hash function on the
password you give it, and check that the result matches the stored hash.

This is why BT can't tell you what your password is, only give you a
means to change it yourself via some sort of password change link.

How you get your computer to reveal it, Mike, will depend on whether
your browser has ever stored a copy locally, but someone else will need
to expand on how to check that for $BROWSER.

Nick

--
"The Internet, a sort of ersatz counterfeit of real life"
-- Janet Street-Porter, BBC2, 19th March 1996

Mike Ruddock

2020-11-02 15:06:56 UTC

Post by Mike Ruddock
However, I have a laptop which runs (if that is not too flattering a
word) Win 10 and I wish to be able to receive upon it the emails which
are mostly handled by the desktop. When I try to do this I am asked
for the password for the email account. I can't remember it (I have
been using my present email address for a number of years). I asked
British Telecom if they could tell me what it was and they said that
it was something known only to me and my computer. How do I get the
computer to reveal it?

If you try to log onto your email, on the BT Internet website, there
should be an option to click to say you've forgotten your log in
details. This should prompt them to reset your password for you. Having
changed your password, you will then have to update both machines to
hold your new password.

Serena, you are a star!

I followed your instruction and now have access to my email account on
several phones, tablets, laptops you name them.

Get yourself a huge choccy bar from the bunker.

Thank you.

And thanks to the other contributors: I had no idea dealing with
passwords was such an elaborate affair.

Mike Ruddock

Vicky Ayech

2020-11-02 17:33:07 UTC

On Mon, 2 Nov 2020 15:06:56 +0000, Mike Ruddock

Post by Serena Blanchflower
details. This should prompt them to reset your password for you. Having
changed your password, you will then have to update both machines to
hold your new password.

Serena, you are a star!
I followed your instruction and now have access to my email account on
several phones, tablets, laptops you name them.
Get yourself a huge choccy bar from the bunker.
Thank you.
And thanks to the other contributors: I had no idea dealing with
passwords was such an elaborate affair.
Mike Ruddock

I don't usually read threads about needing tech help but the offer of
chocolate drew my attention. Serena and I are support buddies in
restricting the amount of chocolate we eat so I volunteer to have half
her prize.

Serena Blanchflower

2020-11-02 17:57:35 UTC

Post by Vicky Ayech
On Mon, 2 Nov 2020 15:06:56 +0000, Mike Ruddock

Post by Serena Blanchflower
details. This should prompt them to reset your password for you.

Having

Post by Vicky Ayech

Post by Serena Blanchflower
changed your password, you will then have to update both machines to
hold your new password.

Serena, you are a star!
I followed your instruction and now have access to my email account on
several phones, tablets, laptops you name them.
Get yourself a huge choccy bar from the bunker.
Thank you.
And thanks to the other contributors: I had no idea dealing with
passwords was such an elaborate affair.
Mike Ruddock

... you're too late ;)

--
Best wishes, Serena
42.7 % of all statistics... are made up on the spot!

Vicky Ayech

2020-11-02 21:06:04 UTC

On Mon, 2 Nov 2020 17:57:35 +0000, Serena Blanchflower

Post by Vicky Ayech
On Mon, 2 Nov 2020 15:06:56 +0000, Mike Ruddock

Post by Serena Blanchflower
details. This should prompt them to reset your password for you.

Having

Post by Vicky Ayech

Post by Serena Blanchflower
changed your password, you will then have to update both machines to
hold your new password.

Serena, you are a star!
I followed your instruction and now have access to my email account on
several phones, tablets, laptops you name them.
Get yourself a huge choccy bar from the bunker.
Thank you.
And thanks to the other contributors: I had no idea dealing with
passwords was such an elaborate affair.
Mike Ruddock

... you're too late ;)

Mike McMillan

2020-11-02 18:45:48 UTC

Post by Vicky Ayech
On Mon, 2 Nov 2020 15:06:56 +0000, Mike Ruddock

Post by Serena Blanchflower
details. This should prompt them to reset your password for you. Having
changed your password, you will then have to update both machines to
hold your new password.

Serena, you are a star!
I followed your instruction and now have access to my email account on
several phones, tablets, laptops you name them.
Get yourself a huge choccy bar from the bunker.
Thank you.
And thanks to the other contributors: I had no idea dealing with
passwords was such an elaborate affair.
Mike Ruddock

I can do much better than that, I guarantee that if you send me any and all
prizes, I will selflessly consume them to assist you in your endeavours to
reduce your choccy consumption.

--
Toodle Pip (My other iPad is an old Pro)

Paul G

2020-11-02 13:40:57 UTC