How can I trace where email came from?

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Hi Leo,

First, I want to thank you for putting very informative information on the web.

I have a question about tracing the origin of an email. I think someone has been email me from a yahoo.com address but, when he is online at work not his home personal computer. Can I still trace this information? Would I need to get help from the company to find this out or can I determine this on my own. Also, what specifically will I have to look for in orde to figure this out? Thanks for the help!

Best Wishes,

James Hill

The example of hotmail I sent to myself above is a good example. The information of explicitly where I'm located (i.e. the IP address of my machine) was never part of it.) I believe you would need to get yahoo or hotmail involved to find out more. They'll probably need things like a court order, if they even CAN get the info.

I have received an email from someone who logged into my email adress and posted a message I would like to know if you can trace where they are emailing from.

Use the techniques outlined in the article you just commented on. You may also want to read this article as well: http://ask-leo.com/someones_sending_from_my_email_address_how_do_i_stop_them.html

I guess I'm not computer literate enough to decipher all that. What I want to know is simple...if my boyfriend says he's in London and I get a yahoo message that shows a time with PDT after it, does that mean he is actually emailing me from somewhere else?

If you mean Email message, it's likely it only means that the computer used was set to the Pacific Timezone. The computer could be anywhere.

hi, i was wondering, if someone can know my name or personal information i keep in my email, because i have some things in my credit balance that i dont even know who made. Is it hacking? my cousin told me that these guys can get into my pc if i dont have a Firewall, so he reccomended th norton antivirus, but i dont know if it right.
Thank You and waiting for your answer.
Brandon P.

You should read this article: http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_keep_my_computer_safe_on_the_internet.html

I can trace some from hotmail but others I can't and yahoo I can't is there a program or website to pinpoint there street adress no matter how they sent the email like in the movies. This email came from 211 seseame st. at 12:00 pm sat. June 9th??? if so please help!

In most movies you'll note that it's the police doing it. That's what it takes ... the help of the ISP, usually at the request (or demand) of law-enforcement.

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