Hide IP and tag in Outlook express

Hi

I am using outlook express and have noticed that every email i send has my ip address and computer tag.

can i hide this

This reason i checked was that when i sent a email it came back undelivered becasue my ip had been blocked. How and why i do not know. Somebody must be using this data.....

is there some switch or program i can us

 

Hey scop, welcome to Wilders!!

There isn't a way within OE to hide your ip address and computer name. This is part of the "header" of your email and is basically a fingerprint of that particular email. This is done to track where an email has been and originated from.
I'm not saying it is impossible, through some 3rd-party software, but not directly through Outlook.

More about Headers here

HTH

 

Hi

Thanks for the reply.

I had a look at that article. Get the general gist. but i feel that i have a security problem. at least with the tag.

my intension is not to hide who i am but to protect myself.

any seggestions?

i now use my pc for business as well, and i am sure a lot of people do. they must have the same problem.

 

Without spoofing your IP address (making it appear as a different address than what it really is), you can't stop Outlook from adding your IP address to the header of outgoing email. Most email clients and web based clients track what IP address the email is sent. This is for security reasons to verify the actual origin of the email. As I stated above, without 3rd party software, you can't prevent this through OE.

If you are worried about your security on your computer, I recommend getting a good Anti-Virus and a firewall. There are some good free ones available like ZoneAlarm.

 

Hi

thanks

i have the free version of zonealam, but i remember reading that one of it suits will hide/ change IP address. I wander if this will change the ip in outlook express emails.

the concern is that i am on broadband and the ip address is the same always(dont know why) and i dont want my dell tag broadcasted.

What are some of these 3rd party software
i have been searching for the last 5 hours ( I am in the UK)
I will be gratful for any suggestions as when i was searching it did not make it clear if it did this.

Another idea!!!
what if i get a digital id. will this solve my problem?

 

It won't. A firewall does not 'hide' your IP address when you send an e-mail or any other type of packets.

Sneakemail (http://sneakemail.com) is a forwarding and "disposable address" service and it doesn't show the IP of your host in the headers. Highly recommended as an anti-spam measure: you can distribute different addresses which will all forward to your real one; if one of the addresses you set up starts getting spammed, you can just delete it. Of course for this to work you should never give out your real address to anyone but the most trusted people you know. I've been using Sneakemail for years and I get NO SPAM whatsoever.

If you are really paranoid, you can use anonymous remailer software (try http://mixminion.net/ and http://peculiarplace.com/mixminion-message-sender/... I haven't tried these and this can be a little bit too much for your needs, but it is worth mentioning).

No.

 

Scop,

The problem is with all ISP outgoing email SMTP servers. When sending out your email from OE, they will not send out your email unless they add on your IP address and your computer name (dell tag). This was meant as a means to track down small time spammers, etc. So it doesn't matter what email client you use or other filtering methods. If you want to send the email out through their SMTP mail server, they will add your info to the headers.

What can you do about it?
1. Change your computer name to something less interesting. So instead of "Scop's Power Server" use just a letter or two for the computer name. Your IP will still be shown, but it's free and takes care of part of the problem. Go to Start, Control Panel, System, Computer Name tab, Change...

2. Use free web based email. Most will not include your Computer Name and IP address in the outgoing email headers. Test it by sending an email to yourself and look at the header.

3. Use a privacy service like COTSE. They have good email features. Your IP and computer name are not shown on outgoing SMTP email so you can still use OE if you want.

 

TNT,

It looks similar to SpamGourmet in its incoming mail forwarding function. Does sneakemail also let you send outgoing email from the account? If yes, is the outgoing email web based (IMAP), or do they offer SMTP as well?

Where is the actual page where you can send out emails? I must have missed it because all I found was info for setting it up on a server.

 

They offer "smtp", so to speak... more precisely, they offer a redirection from smtp: you create a permanent outgoing "randomly generated" address on their server (it looks something dfjosdfi90383f2@sneakemail.com) associated to a real address and from that moment every message you send with smtp to the randomly generated one gets forwarded to the real outgoing one. When you receive a message in one of your sneakemail "inboxes", a permanent outgoing address associated to the sender is generated automatically.

In the second link there is the client software. It's not a web page, it's an actual software package (with a separated GUI).

 

Thanks TNT!

Both Sneakemail and Mixminion look promising.

 

Thanks Guys

But this looks way to complicated.

The bit about changing my computer name is in the right direction. i can add to the tag and i will be the only one to know the real tag.

(http://sneakemail.com) looks like an excellent tool( will have to test some more).

The only problem i can see is that if you want to have any legal recourse then your stuck as you used dead details and can not prove any communication. These adress are not good for business.

I suppose all i need now is to beable to change my ip address daily or periodicly with broadband. if this is easy please tell me

using a digital id to prove who i am for important communication can't be a bad idea.

would not the best situation be that i use a digital id to prove who i am and hide the other details. It is the other details that are the problem and leave me open.

Thank for you help.

 

Hi

http://www.cotse.net/home.html looks like a good idea but i not sure i want to pay monthly for somthing as simple as email. if all else fails. maybe...

 

Hi

I just checked. when i get email from a web host server this information is not included. is it possible to know what software they use for that ?

 

Just get an account from one of the free email services, no computer name, no ip and don't use outlook express. Just use your web browser.

I'm no lawyer, but for legal recourse, you need to be identifiable. One of the main ways of identifying the email sender is through the ip address.
You either want semi-anonymity or to be identified.

Going back to the original reason of your thread:
"This reason i checked was that when i sent a email it came back undelivered becasue my ip had been blocked. How and why i do not know. Somebody must be using this data....."
Because the email was blocked does not necessarily mean that someone is using your ip. The receiving domain may have blocked a whole range of ip addresses of which you are merely a part of. They do this because someone within the general block of ips sent spam email. Then lazily they decide to block half the country(exaggeration) instead of just the offending ip. You can contact the domain and see if you can get the block lifted for your address.

 

Hi

my ip was blocked by "Host found in DNS blacklist at bl.spamcop.net"

now i consider that to be serious. I dont think they bock it for long but when i went to spamcop it said that i was listed twice in 45 days.

how?? why??

I DO NOT SPAM. NEVER HAVE AND NEVER WILL at least KNOWINGLY.

"would not the best situation be that i use a digital id to prove who i am and hide the other details. It is the other details that are the problem and leave me open."

would you say the above statment is correct?

 

Hi

I did not need to change the computer tag in the end. if you go to
control panel,
systems,
computer name,
change ,
more
and change the primary DNS it make the changed in the emails

my client ip address changes every time i log on and off but my server ip never changes.

The server ip is not in the email details so i am not sure how i got registered and blocked. even though i have not done anything.

But as you can imagine i dont want it to happen again.

if i dont spam, go to dodgy sites, how can i be blocked!!!

i would hope that spamcop are not as lame as the explaination you kindly gave.

just went to their site and anybody that has sent you an email you can have their ip blocked.

even though a great service on the face of it. if you use email for business somone can be nasty for what ever reason

i supose that if your ip changes every time you log in then there is a random chance that your ip will be the same as a dodgy one

 

No one is accusing you of spamming.
There are however, thousands of computers that are infected by viruses, worms, and trojans and converted into silent spam sending machines (spambots). All the while the owner is completely unaware. Sometimes even computer experts who swear their machine is clean have been shown to be infected. There is the possibility that your computer has been sending out spam without your knowledge.

What I said was referring to some receiving ISP domains namely some large ISPs who (at least in the past) would put a spam block on whole swaths of ip addresses when there was only one offending ip.

I am not familiar with the internal workings of spamcop. Perhaps someone else here could advise you more specifically regarding spamcop. Is your specific IP listed here?: http://www.spamcop.net/w3m?action=map
From what little I've learned about spamcop, when spam is reported, they will contact your isp and then put your ip on a block list which other isps subscribe to so they can block further email from the offending party.
If the offense is big enough, then your ISP may suspend or close the email account or even your complete ISP account.

Digital ID looks like a way for verisign to get a piece of the public key cryptography pie. You pay $19.95 a year for a password protected private key / public key pair. I think the recipient would also need to pay $19.95 a year for the privilege of receiving your email. Would they not also need a digital id in order to decrypt your email?
Read through the user guide here.
If you feel it is not too complicated, then you should not have a problem with the other ideas suggested earlier either.

I think PGP would be much cheaper and provide similar function for you.
However, I think sending encrypted and digitally signed emails will add too much complexity for you and the recipient. And that you don't want right now.

Perhaps you could clarify exactly what the end goal is that you want to achieve and post it as the subject of a new thread. Then maybe someone can guide you in the right direction. Some example threads might be:

Why did my email bounce with a notice from SpamCop?
How can I tell if my IP is listed on SpamCop?
What is the best way to get my IP unlisted from SpamCop.net?
How can I tell if my computer is a Spambot?
Is Digital ID from Verisign worth it?
What is the best way to prove who I am in an email?
etc.

I have found that you get the best responses when your thread is focused on a single topic.
The people who have the answer you are looking for will see the thread title first, so keep it simple and specific.
Also, posting the new thread in the most appropriate forum will greatly increase your chances of getting a good response.
For example, in the SpamCop forum, you will likely get more responses from people who know a lot about SpamCop.

For this thread: Hide IP and tag in Outlook express
At least 2 valid solutions were provided: Sneakemail and COTSE. Both will let you use OE and hide your IP and computer name (tag).

 

Hi

thanks for the advice.

My main objective is to have safe email where nobody can pretend to be me and spam others. I dont need to hide who i am, email or surf in stealth.

The ip in the email that was blocked was in the list at spamcop.

it will be interesting to see if spamcop will bock ip if there is a digital id. if it does its crap!!!!!

Just read the link you added. I am not sure that if you have a digital id that the other person needs one too. I think it works if i am correct like a ssl. ( the server or pc has the certificate). you need the id for encrypting.

It at the very least it will verify who i am ( just press the sign button in outlook express).

as for Encryption, this may be a feature i could use in the near furture if not too complicated.

i have asked the same question in this forum to zonealarm. look forward to their answer. i will post if any good.

the answer seems that i may need zonealarm suit an a digital id. need to investigate more.

using a proxy server to hide identity on my pc seems like i am hiding and hard work. and i am not sure if the digital id will work if the main ojective of sofware is to be nobody.

 

You're welcome, anytime.

Try the SpamCop forums for SpamCop related questions. I'll bet the answers you get will be much better than from the ZoneAlarm Forum.

Just because you get a Digital ID does not mean your email will get through the IP block at SpamCop. SpamCop blocks by the IP address not the contents of the email or whether it is digitally signed or not. When you send Digital ID email, it will come from the same ip that is still blocked. The block has to be lifted before you can send the email from your ip.

You could email or call verisign about the Digital ID question. Or create a new thread and ask the question in this forum.

 

Try: www.hushmail.com its free.

Though I use and recommend Cotse.net

It has excellent spam control and privacy features.