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TRACE AN EMAIL
Quick links: Trace an email address - Advanced Tracing
eMailTrackerPro provides 2 email tracing options:
- Trace an email message you have received
Tracing an email message provides much more information
regarding the sender. Each email message includes
an Internet
header with valuable information regarding the
message path from the sender to the recipient.
eMailTrackerPro analyzes the message header and reports
the IP address of the computer where the message
originated, its estimated location, the individual
or organization the IP address is registered to,
the network provider, and additional information
as available.
For help obtaining the header using your specific email client click here.
- Trace an email address
Tracing an email address (i.e. name@company.com)
reports the mail server for the address; it
is useful for identifying the company and network
providing service for the address, but does not
provide specific information about the sender. As
email addresses can be easily forged, the information
provided may not be reliable for purposes of investigating
and reporting email abuse.
To trace an email you have received:
- If you are using Microsoft Outlook 2002 or Higher,
you can trace an email message directly from Outlook
by highlighting the email message, then clicking
the eMailTrackerPro shortcut from the Outlook toolbar
to generate an Identification Report.
If you are using Outlook Express you can drag and drop an email from your inbox onto the Visualware
icon on your desktop to iniate a trace. If you do not see a desktop icon then go into your eMailTrackerPro options and make sure
the 'Launch desktop icon when computer starts' check box is checked, then log off and log on.
After clicking the eMailTrackerPro shortcut, the Outlook window below
may appear, click Yes to proceed with the email trace.
If you plan to trace several messages, you can increase
the allowed time to avoid the message.
- If you are using Another email program, you
will need to copy the email header to
run an eMailTrackerPro trace analysis.
Email headers contain a record
of the specific route taken by the email, and are
used to deliver a message over the Internet.
Information for finding the header information
in the most widely-used email
programs is provided below. If your email program
is not listed below, you can normally find out how
to view the headers in your program's help or documentation.
Once the email header information is viewable (see
examples), simply copy the entire header,
open the eMailTrackerPro
trace window, and the header should be automatically
copied into the Email Header box.
Hotmail / MSN |
1. Turn on
the Advanced Headers
Option,
which enables you to view and
select the headers from any email:
- Click the Mail tab to ensure you are
on the mail inbox page
- Click on Options found in the top right
hand corner (next to ‘Help’)
- Click Mail Display Settings
- In the Message Headers section click
to select the Advanced option
2. Select the email to be traced and copy the header:
- Select the Mail tab to return to your
inbox
- Click the email you wish to trace.
With the Advanced option enabled,
the email header is listed directly below
the subject line (show me).
- Select the header text with a left mouse click, then drag
the mouse over the email headers text (usually
between 6-12 lines of text). You can
ignore any Attachment line
if present.
- Copy the header, open the eMailTrackerPro
Trace Window, verify that the email header appears in the
Email header box, then click Trace.
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Netscape Messenger |
1. Open the email of interest and select
View / Headers / All from
the menu.
2. Copy the header, open the eMailTrackerPro
Trace Window, verify that the email header appears in the
Email header box, then click Trace.
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Outlook 98 |
1. Open the email, press the View button,
select Options, the
headers will be displayed in a box at the bottom.
2. Copy the header, open the eMailTrackerPro
Trace Window, verify that the email header appears in the
Email header box, then click Trace. |
Outlook 2000+ |
1. Right click on an email in your Inbox
and select Options,
the header will be displayed in the Internet
Headers box at the bottom.
2. Copy the header, open the eMailTrackerPro
Trace Window, verify that the email header appears in the
Email header box, then click Trace. |
Outlook Express |
1. Click and drag the email you wish to trace onto the Visualware Desktop Icon.
2. If you do not see a desktop icon then go into your eMailTrackerPro options and make sure
the 'Launch desktop icon when computer starts' check box is checked, then log off and log on. |
Pegasus |
1. Open the email and press Ctrl-h to
reveal the Internet header.
2. Copy the header, open the eMailTrackerPro
Trace Window, verify that the email header appears in the
Email header box, then click Trace. |
Yahoo |
1. Open the email and click the Full
Headers link on the right.
2. Copy the header, open the eMailTrackerPro
Trace Window, verify that the email header appears in the
Email header box, then click Trace. |
The eMailTrackerPro Trace Window may be accessed
by:
- Right-click the Visualware systray icon and select Trace
an Email
- Right-click the Visualware Desktop icon and select Trace an Email
- Windows Start->eMailTrackerPro->eMailTrackerPro
- Right-click the Visualware systray icon and select Options,
eMailTrackerPro, Begin Tracing
Once you have got the main eMailTrackerPro GUI up, click the  on the main toobar and you will get the window below:
If you have copied an email header, it will be automatically
pasted into the Email headers box
as shown above. Select the Trace button
to start the trace. Once you have done this a basic trace will be done and you will be returned to the main GUI as shown below:
The numbers below refer to the numbers on the image above:
1 or 2 - you can click the button/link denoted by the numbers 1 and 2 to start and advanced trace.
3 - If you wish to perform another trace then click this button.
4 - This button launches the main Visualware website.
5 - This is the analysis section giving you network and domain contact information about the email address you just traced.
6 - This is the map, it shows the end location of the email. Note that using eMailTrackerPro it is impossible to find the exact
location of the physical machine that was used to send an email. eMailTrackerPro is used to determine the sender's IP address, the location of the
sender's ISP as well as network and domain contact information. Using this information you can easily report spammers or any unwanted email to
these contacts, for this use the 'Abuse Reporting' feature.
Running an Advanced trace:
To perform an advanced trace you have to click either one of the buttons as shown in the image above once you
have performed a basic trace (note you can opt to perform an advanced trace all the time by checking the appropriate
option in the Preferences (Options --> Preferences)). An advanced trace will give you a break down of all the
hops and give you a link in the anaylsis to report abuse (see image below):
Another option in the eMailTrackerPro preferences is whether you want to view the Identification Report automatically
after an advanced trace. If you have this option off then you can review the report by clicking on the link denoted by
the number 1 in the image above. The number 2 denoted the route table showin the location of each hop along the route.
Note that you only get the 'Report Abuse' link and whether the email was misdirected or not when you perform a trace
using email headers, and not just the email address.
To check for new versions of eMailTrackerPro and for database updates go to the 'Options' menu and choose 'Check for Updates':
Simply click the 'Check For Updates' button shown above and any new updates will show. You can then click the 'Install Updates' button to install them.
You may trace an email address by the 2 options
below:
Select the Trace an email address option
in the eMailTrackerPro Trace Window (as shown above),
enter the email address, then select the Trace button
to generate an Identification Report.
Enter the email address in the Visualware
toolbar in Windows Task Bar and click the
green arrow to generate an Identification
Report.
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