Preferred webmail option will not work

[zeiherg]

I have been running the Enhanced webmail option offered by my internet provider Cox.net since I first started using Cox for my email with never any problems. On July 29 I was upgraded from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10. Right away I saw that IE11 (which had been my default browser) was running v-e-r-y s-l-o-w and took forever to load my home page IF it loaded it at all. After doing some research (try doing THAT with a slow browser that kept crashing) I read that others who had upgraded to Win 10 were experiencing the same problem and many were switching to either Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. I opted for Firefox. One morning about 10 -12 days ago I checked my email using the Enhanced webmail option as usual and logged out after checking for new mail. About 1 1/2 hours later I logged back into my email and started getting a message: "Opps! can't find that page." or something very similar. I tried every avenue I knew to try and had no luck at all. I could access my webmail on my iPad but that's all I could do. I could not send any messages or check mail because if I tried I would get a message stating my logon id or password were incorrect. I verified that both were in fact the same as I had been using all along but I still got the same message if I tried checking or sending email. I phoned Cox tech support and after several hours and 3 people later I was still no further ahead than I when I first started. While on the phone with tech support person #3 out of frustration I checked the Classic webmail option and logged right in to my email. Classic would work fine but Enhanced not at all. Classic webmail is terrible which is why I opted to use the Enhanced option from the start. Later that evening I started doing some more research and ensured I had all the correct up to date plug in's and that my Adobe Flash was current and up to date. On a whim I decided to try Google Chrome. I logged in to my email account on Chrome and my Enhanced webmail opened right up. I have Edge set up but not in use and I checked it and had Enhanced webmail there as well. I tried Firefox one more time but it was still not working there so I made Chrome my default web browser and thought I had the problem whipped. I logged completely out of everything, rebooted my computer and logged back in to my email and Enhanced was still working fine. The next morning I logged into my email and BANG! right back to the "Oops!" message and Enhanced webmail was back to non-operational all over again. I have tried everything I know to try but being as how my computer savy is a far cry from anything even closely resembling "expert" but more borderline "beginner-intermediate". Some things I know but a lot I don't. The simple stuff I can usually do pretty much OK but when someone starts talking "tech" I can sometimes keep up but more often than not I get lost. I have been told that Windows 10 and Adobe Flash don't play well together and Mozilla Firefox stopped using the Flash plug in because Windows 10 did not support it. I could not say one way or another. Microsoft Edge which comes bundled with Windows 10 and is supposed to be replacing IE down the road can't seem to play well with Windows 10 either since it was doing the same "now it works; now it doesn't" with Enhanced webmail as both Firefox and Chrome were doing. I have even went so far as to do a system restore hoping maybe if something may have gotten corrupted a restore would fix it. Nope. I did a refresh of Firefox. Nope. I re-downloaded and re-installed Adobe Flash Player. Nope. Why the Enhanced webmail started working the evening I tried using Chrome then by the next morning had reverted back to not working again is beyond me. I posted on the Cox Forum and had responses from several individuals who stated they are running Firefox and their Enhanced webmail was working fine BUT one was using Windows 7 Pro and the other one never said. I was told by one of the Cox Tech Support folks that the Enhanced webmail option does in fact require the Adobe Flash plug-in to work. It would appear that IF Windows 10 does not support Adobe Flash then I will not be able to use the Enhanced webmail option UNLESS there is a fix applied where Windows 10 and Adobe Flash will begin playing nice with each other. Can anyone provide any insight and/or help?

 

[Trouble]

First of all.... in the way of help, might I suggest some double spacing occasionally to break up that wall of words into a couple or three paragraphs. Some people refuse to read a post when it is formatted as above.
Second.... in the way of insight, try this

Close all your browsers.
Open control panel and select internet options
Select the "Advanced" tab from along the top
Scroll down to the section header "Security"
Make sure that at a minimum
Use TLS 1.0
Use TLS 1.1
Use TLS 1.2
Are all three checked.
You can try experimenting with the
USE SSL 2.0
USE SSL 3.0
If you would like, but I've not found them necessary so far.

 

[zeiherg]

First of all.... in the way of help, might I suggest some double spacing occasionally to break up that wall of words into a couple or three paragraphs. Some people refuse to read a post when it is formatted as above.
Second.... in the way of insight, try this

Close all your browsers.
Open control panel and select internet options
Select the "Advanced" tab from along the top
Scroll down to the section header "Security"
Make sure that at a minimum
Use TLS 1.0
Use TLS 1.1
Use TLS 1.2
Are all three checked.
You can try experimenting with the
USE SSL 2.0
USE SSL 3.0
If you would like, but I've not found them necessary so far.

Thank you. I checked my security settings as you suggested and TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1 and TLS 1.2 were all three already checked. I went ahead and checked SSL 2.0 and SSL 3.0 and retried my mail settings and the Enhanced option is now working. But for how long? Please don't misunderstand. As you read in my "rambling" post (sorry I never thought to break it up into segments) I had thought I had the problem fixed before only to have the rug pulled out from under me. I am in high hopes that this time it really IS fixed. Again, thank you for your prompt reply. If it crashes on me again, and I sincerely hope it does not, I will re-post. In the interim I am going to leave the thread open.

 

[Trouble]

Sure thing.
Keep us posted.

 

[zeiherg]

Sure thing.
Keep us posted.

I'm back to square one again. Logged off my email, ate some breakfast and then came back and logged back on and here we go again. I verified that nothing had changed in the security settings in the Control Panel, Advanced tab just to be sure. I am getting so frustrated with this. I have no idea what is changing something or even where. I wasn't logged off for more than 2 hours. As you can see this issue is apparently playing hide and seek and I am getting very tired of playing this game. If you have any other suggestions I'm all ears.

 

[Trouble]

IDK..... at this point I might suspect some piece of malware or other browser hijacker doing evil.
Maybe scan your system.

These are the programs I use to generally delouse a computer with virus and or malware issues.
ADWcleaner from here http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/dl/125/
JRT (Junkware Removal Tool) from here http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/junkware-removal-tool/dl/131/
Norton Power Eraser from here https://security.symantec.com/nbrt/npe.aspx
Malwarebytes from here http://www.malwarebytes.org/mwb-download/confirm/
Ccleaner from here http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download/standard
TFC.exe (Temporary Files Cleaner) from here http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/files/file/187-tfc-temp-file-cleaner-by-oldtimer/
ESET Online Scanner from here http://www.eset.com/us/online-scanner/

Eset online scanner is a bit different than the others in that you need to either use
IE or download and run their smart installer if you're using another browser. Then tick
the radio button that says "Enable detection of potentiall unwanted application"
Then click the link that says "Advanced settings", then check all the boxes except the
one that mentions "Use custom proxy settings", unless of course you're using a Proxy
Server. Then just click "Start", it will do a thorough system scan so it takes a long
time.

I don't check the links above everyday, so if you have any problem with any one of them then just Google for the program name but use the site names that I have recommended since I'm relatively certain they are free of extraneous garbage.

 

[zeiherg]

IDK..... at this point I might suspect some piece of malware or other browser hijacker doing evil.
Maybe scan your system.

These are the programs I use to generally delouse a computer with virus and or malware issues.
ADWcleaner from here http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/dl/125/
JRT (Junkware Removal Tool) from here http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/junkware-removal-tool/dl/131/
Norton Power Eraser from here https://security.symantec.com/nbrt/npe.aspx
Malwarebytes from here http://www.malwarebytes.org/mwb-download/confirm/
Ccleaner from here http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download/standard
TFC.exe (Temporary Files Cleaner) from here http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/files/file/187-tfc-temp-file-cleaner-by-oldtimer/
ESET Online Scanner from here http://www.eset.com/us/online-scanner/

I don't check the links above everyday, so if you have any problem with any one of them then just Google for the program name but use the site names that I have recommended since I'm relatively certain they are free of extraneous garbage.

I run Malwarebytes once a week just as a precaution. I have run it several times since this problem arose and I did fin a handful of PUP's that apparently posed no real threat so I deleted them. I ran JRT which just finished and the results are attached below (I hope). I am running Malwarebytes as I type this. I wanted to ask about running ESET before I go way overboard here. Do yuo think it might be a tool I should run or do you think running JRT and Malwarebytes should be good enough? I'm afraid there might be something hiding down deep somewhere that will be very difficult to find and that may be causing my problem. What do you think?

 

[Trouble]

I'd probably go ahead and run ADWcleaner for sure, based on JRT scan results.
And then see how things go.
ESET Online Scanner is my last, look and see if anything is left tool.
I run that after I'm pretty much sure everything is good to go.
It takes a pretty long time to complete, but I'm usually running it on someone else's computer so I don't usually care.

 

[zeiherg]

I'd probably go ahead and run ADWcleaner for sure, based on JRT scan results.
And then see how things go.
ESET Online Scanner is my last, look and see if anything is left tool.
I run that after I'm pretty much sure everything is good to go.
It takes a pretty long time to complete, but I'm usually running it on someone else's computer so I don't usually care.

I ran AdwCleaner and attached the text file below. I also ran ESET which did take quite a long time. I neglected to copy the results (if that was possible) to attach below. There were some issues found that were corrected. After I ran both I tried Enhanced webmail and still no go. On a whim I opened Control Panel, Internet Options, Advanced tab and restored the advanced settings then went back in and checked SSL 2.0 and 3.0 and applied the changes. I then opened my email and lo and behold....Enhanced webmail is working again. Now I am extremely paranoid since it "worked" several other times but only until I tried logging back in later that day or the next day. I'm not holding my breath that this time will be any different but I still have high hopes.

I do have a question though. I was using what I believe to be the Enhanced settings for my Cox mail on my iPad and had been trying to get it up and working again since this "issue" began. I say I believe I was using the Enhanced webmail settings because several times I got a message telling me I needed Flash Player Version 9 or higher to run the Enhanced webmail option and that Safari did not support Flash Player. Anyway, every time I would plug in all the required settings (username, password, imap settings, smtp settings and SSL settings) I would get a message saying cox.webmail could not be accessed because either my username or password were incorrect. Since I had never changed either and these were exactly the same as what I was using to access my email on the laptop they had to be correct. It seemed like the more I tried to set up my iPad mail settings the worse things got. I started wondering if maybe my continually trying to set up the iPad email account could somehow be interfering with my settings and might be causing my problem. I know this is a reach but it doesn't hurt to ask.

 

[zeiherg]

I ran AdwCleaner and attached the text file below. I also ran ESET which did take quite a long time. I neglected to copy the results (if that was possible) to attach below. There were some issues found that were corrected. After I ran both I tried Enhanced webmail and still no go. On a whim I opened Control Panel, Internet Options, Advanced tab and restored the advanced settings then went back in and checked SSL 2.0 and 3.0 and applied the changes. I then opened my email and lo and behold....Enhanced webmail is working again. Now I am extremely paranoid since it "worked" several other times but only until I tried logging back in later that day or the next day. I'm not holding my breath that this time will be any different but I still have high hopes.

I do have a question though. I was using what I believe to be the Enhanced settings for my Cox mail on my iPad and had been trying to get it up and working again since this "issue" began. I say I believe I was using the Enhanced webmail settings because several times I got a message telling me I needed Flash Player Version 9 or higher to run the Enhanced webmail option and that Safari did not support Flash Player. Anyway, every time I would plug in all the required settings (username, password, imap settings, smtp settings and SSL settings) I would get a message saying cox.webmail could not be accessed because either my username or password were incorrect. Since I had never changed either and these were exactly the same as what I was using to access my email on the laptop they had to be correct. It seemed like the more I tried to set up my iPad mail settings the worse things got. I started wondering if maybe my continually trying to set up the iPad email account could somehow be interfering with my settings and might be causing my problem. I know this is a reach but it doesn't hurt to ask.

UPDATE: Just tried logging on to my webmail and yep, Enhanced is FUBAR again. This is REALLY starting to p*ss me off!