Wow! I know that many of you are much more knowledgeable than I am about solving the spam problem, but I had to write and tell you how impressed I am with this program I just downloaded. I have not used spamcop because I don't use IE, and many of the other spam fighting programs just seemed too complicated. I do know how to look at the headers, but haven't found that very useful either. I've read several articles about decoding headers, about using ping, and whois, etc. etc. Too complicated and time-consuming for me, I just don't have the time to learn all the steps and do it. But today I found and downloaded PCHelp's Network Tracer. A minute or so to download, a minute to unzip to the windows directory, a couple minutes to read the instructions. I typed in the offending URL (how dare they send that link to my email?) and in one minute had a report that traced every step along the way and identified the IP address and the name of the hosting service. I was then able to find them and their toll-free number. Usually if they are just trying to sell something I simply delete or add a filter. The pornographic spam is what really enrages me, though, since my children do use this computer I absolutely am furious to receive email such as the one that arrived this morning. I don't care what people look at on the web or in their homes, I have no moral authority to judge porn, I just don't want it sent to my home computer! When my kids are old enough to look things up on their own they will do so I'm sure, but this was so insidious, in the form of a fairy tale no less, with a huge bright clickable link that acually looked pretty harmless "click here to continue." (Until I looked below and saw the link address!) I don't think the particular people who sent this email to me tried very hard to hide, so perhaps this Network Tracer will not always be so successful. I am sure that there is much more information than I know how to use in the trace report that was generated. But I really wanted to complain and didn't know who to complain to. Hotmail, Yahoo, Excite, Bigfoot, Infospace? All of these were referenced (supposedly) in the email. I was mad at hotmail at first, because it was (seemingly) addressed to me and a bunch of other people @hotmail.com. Then I realized I don't even have a hotmail account! Anyway, this little program helped me find out where the darned thing really came from, and it was fast. But the best thing about it is that it was easy! you can get it at: http://www.pc-help.org/trace.htm ---- post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] url: http://theMezz.com/informant forum: http://theMezz.com/bbs subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] digest: [EMAIL PROTECTED] notDigest: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________________________________ T O P I C A http://www.topica.com/t/17 Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics
