Computer addresses

LilacDragon · Post by **LilacDragon** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 11:16 am

OK - I have some very basic computer knowledge. What that means is I can turn on my computer, surf the web and post on my forums.

So, my husband once explained to me that my computer has an ISP, which is my computer's "address". I am assuming that if there is more then one computer in my house, that each computer has it's own ISP. Is this true? Can you tell by looking at an ISP if there is another computer in the house? If so, can you get that computer's ISP from the ISP of the first?

Does any of this even make any sense?

Post by **spot** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 11:19 am

LilacDragon wrote: OK - I have some very basic computer knowledge. What that means is I can turn on my computer, surf the web and post on my forums.

So, my husband once explained to me that my computer has an ISP, which is my computer's "address". I am assuming that if there is more then one computer in my house, that each computer has it's own ISP. Is this true? Can you tell by looking at an ISP if there is another computer in the house? If so, can you get that computer's ISP from the ISP of the first?

Does any of this even make any sense?Yes, except you mean IP.

An ISP is an Internet Service Provider. An IP is an Internet Protocol address.

If you have a router, then most likely you only have one IP address and it's shared by all of your house computers. We'd need to ask more questions to be certain, but let's guess that. Your house computers all have local IP addresses that can't be reached from outside the house unless you explicitly set up a way for that to happen.

minks · Post by **minks** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 11:20 am

LilacDragon wrote: OK - I have some very basic computer knowledge. What that means is I can turn on my computer, surf the web and post on my forums.

So, my husband once explained to me that my computer has an ISP, which is my computer's "address". I am assuming that if there is more then one computer in my house, that each computer has it's own ISP. Is this true? Can you tell by looking at an ISP if there is another computer in the house? If so, can you get that computer's ISP from the ISP of the first?

Does any of this even make any sense?

From what I understand each computer station has it's own IP address. And no by looking at your IP you can't tell diddly from it weather it has a sister computer beside it or that you are from timbucktoo. I know there are programs out there that you can get your IP changed regularly. IP's come from your "internet service provider" everytime you fire up another computer and as for getting others or interchanging I have no clue. I am not a 100% reliable source this is what I believe

Post by **spot** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 11:23 am

minks wrote: And no by looking at your IP you can't tell diddly from it weather it has a sister computer beside it or that you are from timbucktoo.Well, yes you can. I can usually find out the nearest city, from an IP address. And you can explore network configurations inside a local area network, quite often.

LilacDragon · Post by **LilacDragon** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 11:24 am

spot wrote: Yes, except you mean IP.

An ISP is an Internet Service Provider. An IP is an Internet Protocol address.

If you have a router, then most likely you only have one IP address and it's shared by all of your house computers. We'd need to ask more questions to be certain, but let's guess that. Your house computers all have local IP addresses that can't be reached from outside the house unless you explicitly set up a way for that to happen.

Hmmm.

I do know that admin for forums can access the IP's (thank you!) of the users of the forum.

So, can I set up a firewall or something so that I can avoid the above?

Post by **spot** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 11:27 am

LilacDragon wrote: Hmmm.

I do know that admin for forums can access the IP's (thank you!) of the users of the forum.

So, can I set up a firewall or something so that I can avoid the above?Avoid the admin knowing your IP? That's not what a firewall is for - the forum has to know where to send the webpage to, after all. You can hide your own IP behind a proxy, if you can find a web proxy that permits you.

The firewall would stop intruders from probing your computers. If you have a router, that often has firewall options. We'd need to ask about your operating systems and router model if you want to go into it.

minks · Post by **minks** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 11:31 am

spot wrote: Well, yes you can. I can usually find out the nearest city, from an IP address. And you can explore network configurations inside a local area network, quite often.

Ooops I stand corrected.... going back to the cooking and sewing thread now

LilacDragon · Post by **LilacDragon** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 11:32 am

spot wrote: Avoid the admin knowing your IP? That's not what a firewall is for - the forum has to know where to send the webpage to, after all. You can hide your own IP behind a proxy, if you can find a web proxy that permits you.

The firewall would stop intruders from probing your computers. If you have a router, that often has firewall options. We'd need to ask about your operating systems and router model if you want to go into it.

I just wanted to know if there was some way that I could stop in and check on my friends in a forum that I have swore never to visit again without the owner knowing I had been there. It really isn't THAT important. LOL!!

Post by **spot** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 11:33 am

LilacDragon wrote: I just wanted to know if there was some way that I could stop in and check on my friends in a forum that I have swore never to visit again without the owner knowing I had been there. It really isn't THAT important. LOL!!Do it from a cybercafe next time you're in town and you have a spare half hour.

LilacDragon · Post by **LilacDragon** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 11:35 am

spot wrote: Do it from a cybercafe next time you're in town and you have a spare half hour.

Great idea! Someone else in my apartment building has wireless capability and I can piggy back off of them! I know this because my DH got online with his laptop when he was home before we got the wireless router.

Post by **spot** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 11:37 am

LilacDragon wrote: Great idea! Someone else in my apartment building has wireless capability and I can piggy back off of them! I know this because my DH got online with his laptop when he was home before we got the wireless router.Reconfiguring your wireless could be a fight. There might be simpler way in from home - have a look at http://www.the-cloak.com/anonymous-surfing-home.html and try it out a few times.

minks · Post by **minks** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 11:38 am

LilacDragon wrote: I just wanted to know if there was some way that I could stop in and check on my friends in a forum that I have swore never to visit again without the owner knowing I had been there. It really isn't THAT important. LOL!!

oops I had to come back

you can just go in as a guest, you can read only, you can't post but you can email them separately if you managed to get their email addys

Also can't you sign in there as "invisible"???

LilacDragon · Post by **LilacDragon** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 11:43 am

minks wrote: oops I had to come back

you can just go in as a guest, you can read only, you can't post but you can email them separately if you managed to get their email addys

Also can't you sign in there as "invisible"???

As a moderator on another forum - invisible only hides you from forum members. Moderators and Admin can still "see" you in there. Admin can see guests IP's.

I do have a couple of e-mail addy's for the people that I consider good friends. A couple of others are on my buddy lists for various messaging sites that I use. So, it isn't like not going to see the site will kill me or anything. But I do find that avoiding the site that used to be a daily staple for about 5 years is tough! And cuts down on my page flippin'!:rolleyes:

Post by **spot** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 11:44 am

minks wrote: you can just go in as a guest, you can read onlyThe forum uses a webserver. The webserver logs the IP of all accesses, reads as well as posts. Unless the access is made through a third party proxy server acting as an anonymous intermediary, there's a direct link between the forum log and the person browsing.

abbey · Post by **abbey** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 11:46 am

Why not invite your friends to FG then you wont lose touch?

Post by **spot** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 11:48 am

abbey wrote: Why not invite your friends to FG then you wont lose touch?We'd eat them up and spit out their bones, Abbey. FG is a futureshock warzone, not a playpen. Did you see any signs asking you to check in your spleen at the door? Neither did I.

LilacDragon · Post by **LilacDragon** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 11:51 am

spot wrote: We'd eat them up and spit out their bones, Abbey. FG is a futureshock warzone, not a playpen. Did you see any signs asking you to check in your spleen at the door? Neither did I.

EXACTLY!!!!

abbey · Post by **abbey** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 12:29 pm

:-3 Sorry i mentioned it!

Post by **spot** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 2:17 pm

mrsK wrote: I need to understand this a bit better.

If I go to a foum,don't log on at all & just read the front page,Admin can actually tell that I have been there?:-6Yes. Date, time, page viewed, what browser you own, what your operating system is, the name of your ISP, the IP address you had at the time, what page you were on when you hyperlinked into his site, all sorts.

minks · Post by **minks** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 2:30 pm

abbey wrote: :-3 Sorry i mentioned it!

ack come on back in Abbey we muzzled that mean old spot

Frederick · Post by **Frederick** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 5:06 pm

minks wrote: ack come on back in Abbey we muzzled that mean old spot

Reading through the posts, I've gotta be the world's biggest dummy. I was told my cpu needed repaginating to speed things up, but I'm s--t to press repag incase I lose everything on my hard drive. I don't even know what the word means! If I repaginate a document, what will it look like? I'm not being funny - I only know the VERY basics.

Post by **spot** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 5:11 pm

Frederick wrote: Reading through the posts, I've gotta be the world's biggest dummy. I was told my cpu needed repaginating to speed things up, but I'm s--t to press repag incase I lose everything on my hard drive. I don't even know what the word means! If I repaginate a document, what will it look like? I'm not being funny - I only know the VERY basics.What's telling you this? If it's a box in a web page, it's a lying advert. If it's a word processor, it means that your document layout will be altered to lay it out more neatly. If you're not sure, you could take a screen snapshot and post it here, or copy a few of the sentences in the message.