What is an e-mail header and should I pay attention to it at all?
A:
That is an excellent question! When you hear the word header, you may start to think about a subject line. Well, that's not the case when it comes to working with e-mail. A subject line is what you see when your e-mails first arrive in your Inbox. The actual header can be found when you open up the e-mail to read it.
Now, you may not see it right away, because most of us don't have the option selected to see the header all the time. The headers can be quite lengthy, because they contain a lot of information about the sender, the receiver, etc. Here is an example of what an e-mail header looks like:
Return-Path:
Received: from chad (worldstart-gw.customer.amplex.net [64.246.98.197])
(authenticated)
by worldstart.com (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id l0TKe6Z26933
for
Message-ID: <008201c743e5$a66754b0$6401a8c0@chad>
From: "C"
To: "E"
Subject: Flash drive info
Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2007 15:40:01 -0500
X-Priority: 3
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.3028
X-Antivirus-Status: Clean
X-UIDL: [Hb"!d"S"!T_X-Antivirus: AVG for E-mail 7.5.432 [268.17.14/657]
Mime-Version: 1.0
See what I mean? It can all be a bit confusing, so allow me to explain everything to you just a bit more. Your headers may look a little different than the one above, but all of the information is similar, so you'll be able to at least get the gist of what I'm talking about today.
Let's begin with the Return-Path line. If an e-mail ever has trouble going through (in the sending process), the Return-Path e-mail address is the one that should be used to try sending the e-mail again. Next is Received. This one shows all of the e-mail servers that the e-mail had to go through to get to its destination (your Inbox). They usually include the server location and the IP address information. It also lists the date it was sent. This information is helpful in troubleshooting why an e-mail didn't go through in the first place.
The next line is the Message-ID and it is the assignment that was given to the e-mail from the first e-mail server. Up next, you'll see the From: option. This is simply the e-mail address of who sent the e-mail and the To: line is who the e-mail is being sent to. The Subject: line just states what the original subject line was. Again, this is what you see in your e-mail Inbox before you ever open a message. After that, you'll once again see the date the e-mail was sent.
Now, the sections after that can be a little more complicated. For any lines that start with the letter X, different things can be of importance. Here are some examples:
• X-Priority - This is the priority of the e-mail that's been sent. Whether it was a high priority, low priority and so on, it will be indicated here by a number.
• X-Mailer - This is simply the program that was used to send the e-mail. For example, Outlook Express.
• X-Antivirus-Status - This lets you know if the e-mail was free (clean) or not of any viruses.
• X-UIDL - This is what is used when e-mails are distributed through a POP3 e-mail program.
• X-Antivirus - This just states what the sender's antivirus program is. For example, Norton, AVG, etc.
So, there are a few examples of the X factors you may see in your e-mail headers. The last thing you will see in the header is Mime-Version:. This is just a context used by MIME to help understand and display the e-mail for the recipient. This is generally just recorded by a number. For example, 1.0, as you can see above.
Now, there may be some situations where you'll want to look at an e-mail header, but honestly, most people don't pay too much attention to them. If you do however, want to check something out in a certain e-mail that you get, you can do so by activating the header. To do this in Outlook Express, just right click on the message you want to see and choose Properties. Then choose the Details tab and all of the information will come up for you to see.
You can do this in other e-mail programs as well, but they're all a little different. Under the Options menu in your e-mail, just look for something about the headers. For example, Yahoo!'s mail has a whole option for the headers. You can either show a brief or a full header in all of your e-mails. This will be a similar option in most other e-mail clients.
I've been hearing a lot lately about how the Daylight Savings Time is going to change this year. With all the rumors running around, I'm beginning to worry about how my computer will react to the change. Can you provide any insight on that?
A:
I sure can! The new Daylight Savings Time change is right around the corner and I've been getting several e-mails about it in the last couple of weeks. Even
First of all, just in case you haven't heard, the new Daylight Savings Time (in the
Okay, back to the question at hand. Will the time change affect your computer? Well, there are a couple of things that could happen when all of this hits. First, it's possible that your computer's time zones will be off target during the extended four week period. It's also possible that some of your software programs, etc. will run into some problems. Now, it's not guaranteed that you will have any problems once March 11th comes around, but it's better to be safe than sorry.
So, to ensure that you won't have any trouble, Microsoft is suggesting that everyone updates their Windows operating system. It's important that you update any calendar programs you have on your computer as well. To help with all of this, Microsoft has put together a Daylight Savings Time Update Guide, which makes it very easy to get all the updates you need for your computer. All you have to do is answer a few questions and then run a quick download of the Update Guide. It will run exactly for the type of system you have, which will allow you to combat any problems in the future.
Before you begin with the Update Guide, make sure you have the JavaScript on your computer enabled. To do this in Internet Explorer, go to Tools, Internet Options and click on the Security tab. Next, click on the Custom Level button and scroll down to the Scripting section. For JavaScript, click Enable under "Active Scripting." Click OK twice. In Firefox, go to Tools, Options and click on the Web Features icon. Check the box that says "Enable JavaScript." Click OK when you're done.
Alright, once you have all that done, navigate your way to the Guide by clicking here. Answer the first question (whether you're a home user, etc.) and click Next. The next question asks you for your operating system type. Select the one that fits yours and click Next. (Note: If you're not sure on all the components of this, right click on the My Computer icon on your desktop and choose Properties. From there, you will be able to see what version of Windows you have and if you have any extra features or not).
The next part is the actual download. Just click on the Download button to begin. Click Run and then Run again. Then just let the install go and click Next when it's finished. You can then choose which program you want to run the update on and click Next again. Click Next once more to begin the update process. Let the update run and just follow any more directions it gives you. When it's all complete, your computer will be fully updated and ready for the new Daylight Savings Time. If you want to update more than one program, just run the download again.
Now, if you have upgraded to Windows Vista, chances are, you won't be affected by the time change. You can still run through the Update Guide if you want to confirm it, but it may just not be necessary for you. Also, if you have the Automatic Updates feature turned on for your computer, you may not need to worry about running the Update Guide either. You can always do it just to make sure, but it will probably just come in your regular updates like normal.
Either way, this is a great tool to use to ensure that you and your computer will be safe when the new Daylight Savings Time comes along. You can't complain about that!
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