I've been away for a while: writing a book. But I'm nearing completion and I can deal with other issues.
The title says what the problem is, but I'll reiterate. The companies listed above, and maybe others, now require that, if you use another application to access your email other than one from the provider, you have to use a special web page on their web site to obtain a special application specific password from your provider. You can't make up your own password for your email application and your old password will suddenly stop working without warning sometime in the future. Don't you hate that.
The problem is that email providers are implementing something called OAuth. This means that, for example, if you want to use Gmail to access your bellsouth account, you have to go to the bellsouth web page that provides the password for accessing the bellsouth account, https://www.att.com/support/article/email-support/KM1240462?authNState=Y&haloSuccess=true Get a password from that page by copying it to the clipboard. Go back to the setup for your gmail account and enter that password in the dialog...
For gmail,
- open the email interface
- click the gearbox in the upper right corner
- Click on the blue "See all settings" link at the top of the dropdown for settings.
- Click "Accounts and Import" at the top of the Settings page
- Look for "Check Mail From Other Accounts" on the left navigation area. Your bellsouth, att, or aol email should be listed there. Click the blue "edit info" on the right side.
- Change the password to the one provided by pasting it into the password field.
- Click "Save Changes" and wait for the dialog box to disappear.
- Click "Check mail now" back on the Settings page to test it.
WARNING: Because the drop dead times are approaching for switching, there are Phishing scams that exploit this requirement by sending a very official looking email to you. Click on any of the links and you are dead meat. Go to your provider's web page without going through any email link. I suppose that means, if you want to be strict about it, that you shouldn't click on the links I have provided
