| If you've ever been harassed by annoying spam e-mail | | | | information is however still there on your computer. |
| (and who hasn't?), then you've probably been a little bit | | | | You just need to tell the software you're using to read |
| curious, about who sent the spam. Quite often, the | | | | your e-mail to show you the header information. It's |
| e-mail address you see in the sent field, is a misleading, | | | | slightly different for every e-mail reader, but if you look |
| or fake address. Spammers are far too clever these | | | | around through the options menus, you're likely to find a |
| days, to make it that easy to track them down. The | | | | viewing option for your e-mail header. |
| fines and penalties for spamming, are getting serious, | | | | Once you get the header information display, it's time |
| and these guys/girls really don't want to be found out. | | | | to do a little investigating. There should be some text in |
| It's not impossible though, to track them down, and | | | | the header, that contains the words "received: from". |
| trace your email. | | | | Actually, it's very likely that the text appears a number |
| This may get a little technical. If you're not too familiar | | | | of times. Your e-mail goes through multiple hops, or |
| with some of these terms, it may be better to start off | | | | post offices, before it arrives at your computer. Every |
| tracking back an e-mail that's not spam. That way, | | | | time it goes through one of those hops, that text is |
| you're more likely to see things you recognize, and that | | | | added to your header. It may be quite surprising, to see |
| hasn't been tampered with. What we're going to have | | | | how many places your e-mail has been. There should |
| a look at first, is the e-mail header. The header is the | | | | also be IP numbers included in the received information. |
| best place to start looking, if you want to do a reverse | | | | While the information in the header can be a little |
| e-mail lookup. E-mail headers provide the same | | | | cumbersome to decipher, if you're at all technical, you |
| function as a regular envelope would with | | | | should be able to get a little more information about the |
| old-fashioned snail mail. | | | | original sender of your e-mail. If you're looking for a little |
| You may have never seen the header from your | | | | more information, there are reversed e-mail address |
| e-mails. Generally speaking, there's no real need for | | | | services available as well. Just Google around a bit, |
| you to see the header, if you're just reading e-mail. | | | | and I'm sure you'll find some. They are quite often paid |
| That's a lot of extraneous information that just clutters | | | | services. There are some good free services as well. |
| up your screen. Likely, all of the information you see | | | | The Geobytes website, is a good example. Happy |
| from the header, is the name of the person who sent | | | | spam hunting! |
| you the e-mail, and the subject. The e-mail header | | | | |