A automated reply will come back to you confirming that your email was received.

(N.B. some mail servers require that the email subject field is not left blank on outgoing emails)

But when you do this, also select the option to leave a copy of the message on the mail server. When this option is selected and you are back on your "designated computer" the emails will still be available for download to your main PC.

Note: Over time, if you continued to always access your emails from another location, your mailbox would eventually become full, as the emails would be be downloaded, and subsequently emptied from your mailbox.

NB. If you regularly need a solution for say a laptop, please contact us for an alternative method, which can be used when you aren't able to use your normal internet dial-up / broadband connection method. 

The following guide will provide instructions on how to extract headers from various email clients and programs.

AOL Mail

• Open the desired email message.
• Make sure it reads Sent from the Internet near the top.
• Click Details next to that phrase.

Claris E-Mailer

• Under Mail select Show Long Headers.

Eudora (before ver. 3)

• Select Tools , Options... , then Fonts & Display then Show all headers

Eudora (ver. 3.x, 4.x IBM or Macintosh)

• Press the BLAH button on the incoming mail message

For Mac Eudora 4.x

• hitting the following will cause Eudora to alter its default setting so that BLAH will be automatically selected for all new email received after this switch is set:
• x-eudora-setting: 123=y
  When checked, Eudora will show all the headers from messages, not just an abbreviated set.

For Lotus Notes 4.6.x

• From the menu bar, select Actions, then Delivery Information.
• Copy the information from the bottom box into your e-mail report at the top of the spam.

For Lotus Notes R5

• From the menu bar, select Actions, then Tools, then Delivery Information.
• Copy the information from the bottom box into your e-mail report at the top of the spam.

Netscape 3

• In the mail viewing window: Options Show Headers All
• When all the headers are displayed in the NS3 mail window, they are formatted.
• This is much more readable than the display in a text editor such as Notepad.

Netscape 4.xx

• Double click on the email in your inbox.
• Click on View - Headers - All.

Mozilla Thunderbird

• Click on the View drop-down menu and select Headers and then select All.
• This will show the headers for any message you view.

PINE

• If the feature is enabled, you simply press "H" to toggle full headers.
• If the feature is not enabled, you must enable it first.
• From the main menu, press (S)etup, (C)onfig. Scroll down about 40 lines to the option labeled "enable-full-header-cmd." Press [ENTER].
• Press (E)xit, (Y)es - to save.
• Then you can return to the message window and use "H" to display the headers.

Outlook Express 4, 5 and 6

Start by opening the message in its own window (or when viewing the message in the preview pane).

With the keyboard:

1. CTRL-F3 (Message Source Window)
2. CTRL-A (select all)
3. CTRL-C (copy)
4. ALT-F4 (close)

With the mouse:

1. Click the "File" menu
2. Click "Properties"
3. Click the "Details" tab
4. Click "Message Source"
5. Highlight, copy and paste everything from this window (Ctrl-A, Ctrl-C)

Outlook 98, Outlook 2000, Outlook 2003

1. Open the message in a separate window (double click)
2. Under the View menu select Options
3. Copy the text in the Internet Headers window (unfortunately it doesn't include the message itself).
4. Paste
5. Close the options window

Outlook 2007

1. In Outlook 2007 you can view the headers without opening the message.
2. Just right click on the email message in your Inbox and choose Message Options.
3. This will show you the headers.

• Or you can open the email message. You can open the email message by double clicking on it.
• Outlook 2007 has a new ribbon user interface.
• Look at the right of Options and you will see an arrow.
• Click on the arrow and in the bottom section there is the message options menu with internet headers.
• This will show you the email headers.

Web-Based Email Software

Outlook Web Access
(as accessed through http://mymail.outlookmail.com/exchange/logon.asp)

1. Left click on the letter you want to open and click on properties
2. When that opens click on the details tab
3. Then on message source
4. This will open the email so the full headers will be available for viewing

HotMail

1. First, configure your options
2. On the upper right "Options | Help" links, click on "Options."
3. Click on the "Mail Display Settings" link, find the item "Message Headers."
4. Choose "Advanced" and click the "OK" button.

Yahoo

• Log into your Yahoo! Mail account.
• For the full header of an individual email, just click Full Headers in the lower-right corner of the page, below the message.

If you'd like to see full headers ALL the time, you can set that up, too. Here's how:

• Click Options in the upper-right corner of the page.
• Under "Management", click General Preferences.
• In the "Messages" section, find "Headers" (listed first) and select "all."
• Click Save to put your new settings into effect.

Gmail

1. Open the email in Gmail
2. Click on the combo-box titles Reply and select Show original.
3. That's it!

The email with full header details is displayed in a separate window / tab (depending on your browser configuration).

Double-click the e-mail you want to view the headers on.

All mail sent to an address that does not have an explicit delivery rule will now be returned to sender.

This is a good way to avoid spam.

If you believe your email address has been compromised or there are emails being sent out in your name which you are not sending, please copy the email headers from one of the emails that were sent and open a new support ticket.  We can then verify for sure that the email did not come from your servers and work toward a resolution.

If it did not come from your server, unfortunately there's not much you can do other than wade through the mass emails until they decide to quit and move on to the next place. Using the header information we'll be able to find out what data centre is responsible for sending the mail and we can contact them to have them potentially shut down for spamming etc.

Often the filters in ProExe's TrustedMail can be utilised, to help reduce the impact of spoofing.

2. When possible, avoid email attachments both when sending and receiving email.

3. Configure Windows to always show file extensions. In Windows XP, this is done through Explorer via the Tools menu: Tools -> Folder Options -> View - and uncheck "Hide file extensions for known file types". This makes it more difficult to for a harmful file (such as an EXE or VBS) to masquerade as a harmless file (such as TXT or JPG).

4. Never open email attachments with the file extensions VBS, SHS or PIF. These extensions are almost never used in normal attachments but they are frequently used by viruses and worms.

5. Never open attachments with double file extensions such as NAME.BMP.EXE or NAME.TXT.VBS

6. Do not share your folders with other users unless necessary. If you do, make sure you do not share your full drive or your Windows directory.

7. Disconnect your network or modem cable when you're not using your computer - or just power it down.

8. If you feel that an email you get from a friend is somehow strange - if it is in a foreign language or if it just says odd things, double-check with the friend before opening any attachments.

9. When you receive email advertisements or other unsolicited email, do not open attachments in them or follow web links quoted in them.

10. Avoid attachments with sexual filenames. Email worms often use attachments with names like PORNO.EXE or PAMELA_NUDE.VBS to lure users into executing them.

11. Do not trust the icons of attachment file. Worms often send executable files which have an icon resembling icons of picture, text or archive files - to fool the user.

12. Never accept attachments from strangers in online chat systems such as IRC, ICQ or AOL Instant Messenger.

13. Avoid downloading files from public newsgroups (Usenet news). These are often used by virus writers to distribute their new viruses.

14. Check for the closed padlock or key symbol (SSL) in the browser window when entering your credit card details and other personal / financial information on a web site.

15. Use anti-virus software and keep the virus recognition data files up to date.

16. Install a firewall. They're not as complicated as you might think.

This is actually becoming more common as many ISP's are starting to disable SMTP in an effort to cut down on spam. They require you to use the ISP's own mail sending.

If you are able to receive mail but unable to send mail, you will want to contact your ISP and see if they have blocked "Port 25" (this is the SMTP Port). If they have, they will either have steps to get around it, or will unlock it for you if you tell them that you require SMTP to send out mail through your own domain name.

ProExe can provide a solution (chargeable) if your own ISP blocks port 25. We can provide you with an SMTP connection for your outgoing email.

For example with a catch-all email account all the following address would be valid:
ixfo@example.com 
fhefse345@example.com 
sal3s@example.com 
xxxx@example.com 

However, despite the potential initial advantage (before SPAM grew to it current levels), catch-all email accounts do tend to attract lots of spam email. As the possibilities of the email addresses become unlimited.

ProExe do not recommend catch-all email addresses.

When the user receives email, the mail system automatically puts it in the users mailbox. The mail system allows you to scan mail that is in your mailbox, copy it to a file, delete it, print it, or forward it to another user.

Users may operate one or more email POP3's, but it is not recommended that more than one user share a single email POP3.

Otherwise when a user logs into the system and downloads their mail they would be downloading all the emails sent to that POP3, including the email intended for other users.

When you check your email, your e-mail client connects to the POP3 server using port 110. The POP3 server requires an account name and a password. Once you have logged in, the POP3 server opens your text file and allows you to access it. Like the SMTP server, the POP3 server understands a very simple set of text commands. Here are the most common commands:

USER - enter your user ID
PASS - enter your password
QUIT - quit the POP3 server
LIST - list the messages and their size
RETR - retrieve a message, pass it a message number
DELE - delete a message, pass it a message number
TOP - show the top x lines of a message, pass it a message number and the number of lines
Your email client connects to the POP3 server and issues a series of commands to bring copies of your e-mail messages to your local machine. Generally, it will then delete the messages from the server (unless you've told the email client not to).

The Real-time Block List (RBL) is a real-time database of IP addresses of spam-sources, including known spammers, spam gangs, spam operations and spam support services.

The database is kept updated every day, around the clock, by RBL project team members around the world.

How much spam will the RBL block for me?
 It depends on many factors: how many domains one hosts, how many email addresses the domains have, how many email addresses have been harvested by spammers or pulled out by dictionary attacks, geographic "ccTLDs", and other spam-profile factors.

Current numbers show the RBL's can stop, on average, about 50-70% of incoming spam.

How often is the RBL updated?

The RBL DNS zone is rebuilt and reloaded every 15 minutes, 24/7, to ensure that new spam problems are swiftly blocked and that fixed problems are swiftly removed. For high redundancy there are over 40 public mirrors located in many nations around the world.

It can also be used to send an automated "Out of Office" or "On Holiday" response.

Most email systems that send mail over the Internet use SMTP to send messages from one server to another; the messages can then be retrieved with an email client using either POP3 or IMAP; in addition, SMTP is generally used to send messages from a mail client to a mail server; this is why you need to specify both the POP3 or IMAP server and the SMTP server when you configure your email application.

SMTP is a "push" protocol that does not allow one to "pull" messages from a remote server on demand. To do this a mail client must use POP3 or IMAP. Another SMTP server can trigger a delivery in SMTP using ETRN.

SMTP uses TCP port 25. To determine the SMTP server for a given domain name, the MX (Mail eXchange) DNS record is used.

The concepts are a bit abstract, so let's make them concrete. If we think of the internet as being like a high street where you want to set up shop, domain names are like signs, web space is like premises and email addresses are like mailboxes.

When you create your online presence you first buy a domain name, which is like buying a sign. On the street, some signs are over shops and some point to another location. In the same way, your domain name can point to your own space, or it can point elsewhere. Some domain names just point to other domains. Businesses sometimes use extra domains to make sure they pick up visitors who have guessed their domain name wrongly. The extra domains are just 'signs', they have no 'premises' under them.

The next step is to get web space, which is like renting premises. Until you do this, you have nowhere to set up shop, just a 'sign'. Once you have 'premises', you can put the 'sign' over the door by making your domain name point to your web space.

Finally, you can also have email. This is like fixing a 'mailbox' under the 'sign' - people can now send letters to you. You can have as many mailboxes as you want - one for each person in your company.

Note that you don't have to have web space to have email. You could just have a domain and email addresses. You would then have a 'sign' and a 'mailbox', but no 'premises'. Sole traders who want a distinctive email address, but don't need their own site, often do this.

You can get a domain name and web space without having email if you really want, although the vast majority of businesses have emails associated with their domains. You cannot have an email account without buying a domain, unless you are happy with having your 'mailbox' under someone else's 'sign' (by using a generic webmail address, for example).