Articles in Category: Network IP Addressing

The IP address is how computers and other devices are identified on a TCP/IP network. Articles relate to IP addresses, how they work, what they are and what they do and do not tell you.

You Are Here!

Someone Has My IP Address. Should I Be Scared?

If someone threatens you because they know your IP address, it's an empty threat.

Ping in action.

What Is Ping and What Does Its Output Tell Me?

Ping is one of the oldest diagnostic tools. It validates connectivity from point A to point B and provides additional useful information.

Map with a pin in it.

How Do I Get Someone’s Location From an IP Address?

While getting someone's name and address from their IP address is technically possible, it's also difficult and requires law enforcement's help.

Two computers and a hub.

Why Does My Home Network Only Work with One Computer at a Time?

If there is a conflict with your IP address, it could result in only one of the machines on your network connecting at a time.

ipconfig output highlighting subnet mask

What Is a “Subnet Mask”?

A subnet mask is a way of telling your computer or router what network addresses are local and which are remote.

DNS

I Keep Getting “DNS Server Not Responding” Errors. What Can I Do?

Slow Domain Name System (DNS) lookups can affect your apparent internet speed. Your ISP should provide fast DNS, but there are alternatives.

ProtonVPN in action

Proton VPN: A Fast, Reliable VPN Service

On a recent overseas trip, I exercised Proton VPN extensively and was very pleased with the results.

Searching an IP address

Can a Website Identify Me When I Visit?

Web servers get your IP address when you visit. Whether or not that or other information can be used to identify you, specifically, depends on a lot of things.

Network Cards

Can I Trace a MAC Address?

A MAC address can easily be traced for as far as it travels -- which isn't far enough to be useful.

Neighborhood

How Do I Stop My Neighbor Using My IP Address?

If it's certain a neighbor is using your IP address without permission, you need to take steps. But first you need to make sure.

IP Address

Finding the Owner of an IP Address

While you can't find the specific owner of an IP address, there are a few tools to see what IP-related information you can get.

What Can People Tell from My IP Address?

What Can People Tell from My IP Address?

People can tell very little from your IP address. For example, they cannot tell who or where you are. How much they can tell varies a great deal.

Eye Spy

Can My ISP See I’m Using a VPN or a Proxy?

If you want to hide your IP address, it's important to understand the terminology to get the results you want.

DNS

How Do I Find the DNS Server Used By My PC?

How to quickly find the DNS servers used by Windows. They're typically specified by your ISP, but I'll also discuss why you might change your DNS servers.

Simple network

Why Can’t I Connect with a 169.254 IP Address?

When your computer can't get an IP address any other way, it assigns itself a 169.254 IP address. It's a sure sign of a problem.

IP Address Search

How To Trace an IP Address: Myth Versus Reality

Thanks to popular media, many people expect much more from an IP address than is practically available. I'll separate myth from fact.

A Router's Role

Your Router’s Two IP Addresses

Every router has at least two IP addresses. It's a characteristic of how routers do their jobs.

DNS Settings

How Do I Change the DNS Used By My Computer?

Sometimes using a DNS service other than that provided by your ISP makes sense. I'll show you how to make the change.

The travels of a MAC address

What’s the Difference Between a MAC Address and an IP Address?

A MAC address and your IP address are both key components to networking, but they serve different purposes, and are visible in very different ways.

Does visiting a search-engine cached page prevent the original site from noting my visit?

Even a cached version of a website could send information about you back to the original server. The thing is that we just don't (and can't) know.

Stop!

I’ve been blocked because my IP address is on a blacklist. What do I do?

Finding out that you are on a blacklist can be a nightmare. So how do you get off of it?

Router Backside

Can I Assign an IP Address to a Hub and Router?

In this scenario, you'll end up with two IP addresses, but the hub and router won't each get one. I'll explain.

You Are Here

How Do Those Ads Know Where I Live?

There are several ways websites can reasonably approximate your location and serve up ads specific to locale. We'll look at each.

Command Prompt showing IP address

Why Doesn’t My Machine’s IP Address Match What I’m Told on the Internet?

Comparing your machine's IP address to that reported by a website may result in a surprising difference. I'll explain why that is and why it's a good thing.

Hello?

What is DHCP?

DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, and is how computers request and receive "dynamic" IP addresses as well as additional configuration information.

What’s Up with this IP Address?

This IP address looks like both the IPv4 address and the IPv6 address that's been assigned to that particular network node.

What’s My IP Address?

We'll look at some of the specific information you're making available to every website you visit, and briefly explain each.

IP Address Search

All Worked Up Over IP Tracing

I frequently hear from people who are quite insistent that they be able to trace an IP address to the person behind it. It's just not that simple.

What is Double Natting?

Essentially "Double Natting" is what happens when you place your computer behind a NAT router which is itself, behind another NAT router. Occasionally it just happens, particularly in corporate environments where you want a small network to be isolated from the corporate network it's on, which in turn is isolated from the internet that it's ... Read more

Can I fake the DNS ip lookup to test my website?

In case you need to test your website, there are ways that you can fake the DNS IP lookup to be able to do so. We'll take a look at how that's done.