How To Install LimeWire & Use it Without Getting a Virus

This one’s for my fellow parents. If you’ve got some school-age kids, they’ve likely spent some time at a computer (yours or a friend’s), downloading from peer-to-peer (”P2P“) networks like the Gnutella network, which can be accessed via the popular LimeWire program.

According to our research, many of you want to know how to best use the program, without getting bit by a virus. Today, I’ll show you how.

Installation & Sharing

The company which makes LimeWire will tell you – this is very important – when you go to download the installation file, you should only do so from the program’s official site! Doing so makes absolutely sure that you have a legitimate version of the program, without the inclusion of any malicious code. Please don’t download from other sources, especially from other P2P networks.

When installing LimeWire for the first time, it’s a good idea to make sure that the program is set to not automatically share any downloaded files. Despite what is often said in the mainstream (read: non-tech-savvy) press, it has been sharing or distributing files, not downloading or receiving them, that has ended up with so many people being brought into court.

One caveat: That setting doesn’t apply to downloads through the BitTorrent network, which LimeWire also supports. In a BitTorrent network (or “swarm”), everyone downloading a file is simultaneously distributing it!

Search Filtering

Please, make sure “Search Filtering” is on. Click on the Tools menu near the top, then Options. After the Options screen appears, click on Search, then Configure under Search Filtering. Make sure that the settings are such that programs (executable files) are not included in the search results. Virus code spreads easiest in executable files, opened on accident by users who may not know better.

You may think you’re downloading a photograph, but go to open the file, named HotChick.jpg.exe, which ends up, as my teacher might say, barfing all over your system.

Scan Everything!

While your top threat is from executable program files, any file you download can be infected with some kind of code. Remember, you’re not necessarily getting these files from a clean server, you’re getting them from other users, who may be unknowingly infected by something. It’s of critical importance to, before doing anything else with a file, to scan it with an updated anti-virus program. This is especially true for those of you who have enabled program downloads anyway.

If you have an antivirus software installed, be sure to keep it updated. Consult the program’s documentation. If you don’t have an anti-virus installed, try the AVG Free Edition.

Once the download is complete, right-click the file listing in your Library, then select Locate on Disk. This will open up your file manager and highlight the file. Right-click on that file, and select the appropriate command to scan your file. Your anti-virus will report to you any infected files, and prompt you to delete said file.

When scouring P2P networks like LimeWire, it pays to play safe. A few preventative steps, plus some common sense, adds up to a safer experience.

If you have any important tips for potential downloaders, please feel free to sound off in our comments.

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Related posts

• Protect Your Privacy On P2P With Peer Guardian 2 (23)
• 5 “DISPOSABLE” Web Accounts to Keep Your Identity Safe (90)
• Your Computer, Your World – How to Keep Out the Mindless (46)
• Using Pando To Send Huge Files Across The Web (15)
• Transmission, The Lightweight BitTorrent Client (10)

How To Create An Ubuntu Installation USB On The Mac

Posted: 09 Aug 2009 07:01 AM PDT

I just let myself be lured into buying a Netbook for my daughter. It was a good deal actually and I love the machine. The only problem is that it came with no OS and no optical disc drive (it has two USB ports, though). The only option to get it up and running – without the need to buy (or borrow) an external optical drive – is to install the OS via a USB thumb drive.

Armed with my faithful MacBook, an internet connection, and a 2GB USB flash disk; I set out on an adventure to bring my daughter’s future netbook alive.

Deciding on the OS

It didn’t take long for me to decide to install Ubuntu on the netbook. Free would be the first reason and familiarity is the second. I’ve tried Ubuntu before and I have the installation CD with me.

As naive as it sounds, some people still think that you can just copy and paste the content of the CD to the USB drive and boot the machine with it. That’s why my first quest is to find out how to transfer the installation ability of the CD to USB – the Mac way of course.

The search ended up with an unexpectedly different result. I found something more interesting: there is a netbook version of Ubuntu called Ubuntu Netbook Remix (UNR for short) which is designed for the small screen and Intel Atom processor (as most netbooks are). The minimum requirement is 384MB of RAM.

So I choose the nearest download location for me and hit the “Begin Download” button.

Note: If you are wondering whether your netbook is compatible, you can check their list of tested and compatible models, but in general, it should work with most netbook models. Mine is not listed but I’ve discovered no problem so far.

Creating the USB installer

The Ubuntu site has a page describing how to create the USB installer. Basically, you have to get an .IMG version of the Ubuntu installer (UNR is already in IMG format), and then convert it to the USB drive.

Windows users have the luxury of an easy GUI way of converting the IMG with the help of Disk Imager . Ubuntu users has their own Ubuntu ImageWriter. But Mac users and other Linux users have to bear with the geeky command lines method.

The first thing to do to create the USB installer using Mac’s Terminal command line is to make the process easier by moving the UNR installer file to the highest position of the folder structure and then changing the name to something shorter like “unr.img” (sans quote). Don’t forget to make sure that there’s no USB drive plugged.

Then follow these steps:

• Type : diskutil list in the Terminal and hit Enter
• Plug in your USB flash disk and repeat step 1
• Compare the result and you’ll have the device node assigned to your flash media. Usually something like “/dev/disk2” (sans quote)



• Type : diskutil unmountDisk /dev/diskN in the Terminal and hit Enter. You’ll have to replace the /dev/diskN with the device node that you got from step 3. From the picture above you can see that the device node assigned for my USB flash drive is “/dev/disk1” (sans quote)
• Type : sudo dd if=/path/to/downloaded.img of=/dev/diskN bs=1m in the Terminal and hit Enter. But there are several things that you have to change here before you hit Enter:
  - first the /path/to/downloaded.img is the location of the downloaded UNR installer file. As we’ve already taken care of this before, all you’ve got to do is to change the string into /unr.img
  - second, the /dev/diskN is the device node which is the same as step 4
  - and the last, if you see the error line: dd: Invalid number ‘1m’ then you need to change the bs=1m into bs=1M (notice the capital ‘M’)
• Write your password, hit enter, and wait until the process is finished. Please be warned that all the data in the USB drive will be lost.
• Type : diskutil eject /dev/diskN in the Terminal and hit Enter.
• Unplug your USB drive.

Installing UNR in the Netbook

We now come to the climax of the story. I plug the USB drive into the Netbook’s USB port and start the machine. During the booting process, I press the F10 button to go into the booting option, choose to boot from the USB drive, and….the prince and princess live happily ever after.

Every manufacturer might have different settings for this booting menu, so please refer to your machine’s documentation. Another option is to look carefully at the bottom left part of the screen during the beginning of the booting process because usually the booting instructions are written there.

Now the netbook is alive and well, running UNR while my daughter has to continuously ‘compete’ with his father – yours truly – to use the tiny machine. As for me, I am now addicted to the concept of a USB Drive as the OS installation method and will surely try to find out more about it.

Have you tried UNR? Do you know any other method to create an installation USB drive for other OS’s? Share using the comments below.

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How to Convert & Edit YouTube Videos On Your Computer

YouTube is the biggest video sharing site on the planet. It doesn’t matter if you’re looking for a review of the latest gadget, or a simple walking tour of a historical site, chances are you’d find it on YouTube.

Most videos uploaded to YouTube are made by amateurs like you and I, usually with modest video making equipment. It’s not a surprise that you’d find a lot of the videos lacking in quality and/or content.

Now, quality is something that you can’t do much about but if it is the content that is bothering you and you have the inclination and enthusiasm to make some changes, we’ll tell you how to go about it. Maybe one particular scene in a video really bothers you and you want to take it out. Well here’s one way to go about it.

Downloading and editing videos on YouTube typically involves three steps. Since you can’t edit the videos on YouTube online, the first step is to actually download a copy of the video locally to your computer.

Downloading YouTube videos to your computer

There are a couple of different ways that you can do this and we’ve talked about a few in the past, see 18 Free Ways To Download Videos. So we won’t dwell too much on this part. Searching MakeUseOf for “download youtube videos” will bring you plenty of options.

Which brings us to the second step in the process.

Converting FLV files to Windows Media Video Files (WMV)

There are dozens of software available all around the web that could potentially help you do this conversion, but why bother with all that searching when we have the coolest open source solution for the job, ffmpeg. If you’re comfortable with the command line, you can use ffmpeg directly or download and install the excellent WinFF utility, which is basically a graphical wrap-around for the app.

Launch WinFF and click on the add button to add the FLV file you just downloaded. Select “Microsoft” from the Convert To drop down and select the WMV2 Generic option from the Device Presets drop down. Choose a location to save the converted file to and click on convert. WinFF will launch ffmpeg which will do the conversion for you without you having to use any command line kung fu.

Editing Videos using Windows Movie Maker

Windows Movie Maker is a free software bundled with Windows which can be used to edit and enhance videos and it has built-in support to read WMV files. Mark has previously written two excellent articles on editing movies using Windows Movie Maker and those should be enough to get you started.

Use WMM to remove the offending scene(s). Use the preview window to view the results of your artistry as soon as you’re ready.

When you’re done with editing the video, click the Publish Movie button and export the movie using one of the many choices given, including burning the movie to a DVD or writing a new WMV file to the disk for playing on a computer.

Do you know of any better ways to edit a YouTube video? If so, let us know.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

Understanding URLs and Linking :

n today’s lesson I’ll be going to tell you about URLs, what is a URL and what are its type, what are the various parts that a URL is composed of. I am sure this will be a new and exciting lesson for you all. Lets start.

URL is Uniform Resource Locator that tells where a particular resource is located. The word uni means one and form means type. Lets take an example to understand the 5 parts of a URL.

http://makeuseofundaz.blogspot.com/2009/08/environmental-engineering-laboratory.html

The link mentioned above is a URL and is made up for five parts.

1. http:// : Full form of http is Hypertext Transfer Protocol which tells the browser that the information is located somewhere on the WWW ( World Wide Web)

2. www : World Wide Web tells the browser to search the particular address on Internet. If we want to search a particular resource of our local computer we will use file:/// as a protocol. I’ll explain each and every protocol later in this tutorial.

3. makeuseofundaz.blogspot.com : This is known as hostname that includes the web pages, files and folders.

4. 2009/08 : These are the folders that are hosted on the server. 2009 is the main folder that includes another folder called 08.

5. how-to-share-files-on-twitter.html : This is the file name that is in the 08 folder. This pattern is same as the files stored in our computer.

Till now you are familiar with the anatomy of URLs. Lets move further and understand types of URLs. There are two types of URLs

• Absolute
• Relative

Absolute URLs are those that include all the necessary information. like the link discussed above.

Relative URLs are those that only includes file name and folder. For example;

series/htmltutorials/gagan.html

The link above does not include any hostname but contains only file name and folder name, any URL following the above pattern can be termed as relative URL.

Linking one document to another

We use anchor tag to link one document to another. We also use the hyper-reference tag (href) with anchor tag to link the files.

Syntax

http://you-file-link"> Link text 

Output

 Link text 

Email Links

To use hyperlink as an email link, we use the mailto tag, which when clicked open the default emailing program.

Syntax

abc@xyz.com"> Click here  to send us email

Output

 Click here  to send us email

Chart telling about different types of protocols

Protocol Syntax	Use of the protocol
http://	It tells the browser that the information is located somewhere on the WWW ( World Wide Web)
file:///	It tells the browser that the information is located somewhere in our local computer
ftp://	FTP ( File Transfer Protocol) It is used for documents on an FTP server
gopher://	It is used for documents on a Gopher server
telnet://	It is used to open a Telnet connection
wais://	This protocol is used to connect to a Wide Area Information Server
mailto://	Used to open default email program
news:	It is used to connect to a newsgroup

I know you might be confused with these protocols, do not worry I’ll be giving all the detailed information in my e-book.

How To Send Completely Anonymous Emails

Have you ever had the need to send completely anonymous emails to someone? Perhaps you were trying to prank one of your friends, or wanted to shyly declare your love.

Perhaps you wanted to report illegal activity or abuse, but didn’t want to get caught up in all it. Going to a telephone booth is easy, but how about emails?

There are services on the web – mostly online utilities – that allow you to send anonymous emails. You can send simple messages from, and to everywhere in the world, without having to reveal your true identity.

Today we’ll have a look at those services and present to you the three that stand out, following in no particular order.

AnonEmail

AnonEmail is a service by AnonyMouse. It allows you to send anonymous emails by resending your email several time through random nodes, thus making it impossible to trace back.

In AnonEmail, you can fill in your recipient, the subject, and a short plain-text message. Contrary to many other services AnonEmail does not (seem to) log your IP. However, we do urge you not to use it for anything illegal.

As an extra security measure, AnonEmail will then wait for an unknown period before sending your email along. Why? So no one will be able to prove your ‘guilt’ based on time/location, or make geographic presumptions based on timezones.

It remains the question whether this particular functionality should be obligatory – as it might be a serious disadvantage if you don’t need it.

Formmail Anonymous Mailer

Formmail Anonymous Mailer, developed by Infinite Monkeys & Company, is a great alternative to AnonEmail.

Apart from the usual functionality, this website allows you to specify a sender’s address as well, allowing you to seemingly send it from a normal mail account. You can also select the specific remailers you want the website to use, from a list of 17 possibilities. Note that the message will take increasingly longer to send when re-rooting it through multiple remailers.

After pressing send, you’ll be able to watch the progress of your message through the different nodes. I used three remailers for a prank mail, and it took about a minute or two to send.

The debatable downside of Formmail Anonymous Mailer is that it logs your IP-addresses to keep you from doing anything stupid. They won’t include it in the emails you send, but if you do anything illegal, they’ll give it up.

Send Anonymous Mail

Like the name implies, this one is a third anonymous mailing utility. Although it lacks the complete anonymity of AnonEmail, and the remailer control of Formmail, this is the most simple one around.

You’ll also be able to specify a sender’s address, a ’supposed’ origin point for your secret message. Nothing else fancy is included, but if you’re looking for simplicity, this is your guy.

Again, this one logs your IP address, so you’ll have another reason not to try anything shady.

Have a blast, but don’t do anything stupid. Which do you prefer, and why? Or do you use another service? Tell us and your fellow MakeUseOf readers about it in the comments below.

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The Complete Guide: Troubleshooting Mozilla Firefox Problems

Mozilla Firefox, what can I say about it that hasn’t been said before? Some may claim that Firefox has grown into a hard to tame beast. Others will list all the advantages of running Firefox: extensions, flexibility, constant new developments, huge fan/user base, and great support. In short: Internet Explorer’s biggest rival since Netscape.

While Mozilla’s “open to user manipulation” nature generally is a benefit, it can also cause a lot of issues. As a result, Mozilla’s flagship browser may be buggy, i.e. slow launch, slow page loading, unstable, crash often. However, most of these bugs are man made and chances are you can easily fix them yourself.

Let the following tips be your complete Mozilla Firefox troubleshooting guide. Some very common issues are listed between step 3 and 4.

First, I assume your Cache is cleared! This can be done under > Tools > Options > Advanced tab > Network tab > Offline Storage header > Clear Now button. Eventually grant more Cache space. Finally reboot Firefox and proceed.

Before analyzing your issue(s) in detail, make sure you’re running the latest version of Firefox and its add-ons, such as extensions, themes and plugins. Per default, Firefox regularly checks for updates. Plugins, however, can not be updated automatically!

1. Firefox

Update Firefox: > Help > Check for Updates…

Download and install browser updates if necessary.

If your problem persists, check extensions and themes (step 2).

2. Extensions and Themes

Open Add-ons: > Tools > Add-ons -OR- [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [A]

Update extensions: Within the Add-ons window / sidebar: > click on the extensions icon, then go to the menu above and click > Tools > Check for Updates. Wait until checkup completes and proceed with installing updates.

Update themes: Within the Add-ons window / sidebar: > click on the themes icon, then go to the menu above and click > Tools > Check for Updates. Wait until checkup completes and proceed with installing updates.

Restart Firefox after updating extensions and/or themes. If your problem persists, check plugins (step 3).

If you think there is a compatibility issue with a specific extension or theme, you may find clues on the Mozilla Knowledge Base, the comments for that extension/theme on the Mozilla Add-ons site or the creator’s website/FAQ.

3. Plugins

Firefox does not automatically update plugins! Plugins allow viewing of various content types, e.g. PDF, Flash or DivX. In some cases, plugins are installed manually and also require a manual update. Usually, Firefox automatically recognizes third party software installed on your computer and integrates required plugins from there. Issues may occur in Firefox, if you have not updated plugins or software that provides necessary plugins, e.g. RealPlayer or QuickTime.

Open Add-ons: > Tools > Add-ons -OR- [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [A]

Update plugins: Open the Mozilla plugins website. Under > Documentation select your > operating system, then switch to > A – Z listing. Within the Add-ons window / sidebar click on the > plugins icon and compare the plugins you have with the versions listed on the website. Update plugins or respective software as needed. Make sure you disable second and third instances of the same plugin.

Reboot your computer after updating plugins or respective software! If your problem with Firefox persists, proceed to step 4.

If you think that you’re having an issue with a specific plugin, check the Mozilla Knowledge Base for specific information. They also provide tutorials for installing plugins.

Intermezzo: Common Issues

After making sure everything is up to date (if possible), let’s look at some common issues before proceeding with general steps. I will point you directly to the respective articles on the mozillaZine or Knowledge Base.

I. Firefox will not start up – profile locked or operating-specific issues

II. Firefox crashes – find and search for your crash signature

III. Firefox is running but not responding – profile is locked

More specific issues can be found on the mozillaZine Issues with Firefox page. For general advice on how to troubleshoot issues with Mozilla Firefox, please proceed.

4. Safe Mode

This step is suitable for localizing any issue you’re having with Firefox. It tells you whether the problem is in your personal customization (extensions, settings, plugins) or whether it’s a general issue with the browser, independent of your personal user profile (corrupted installation, compatibility issue with other software etc.).

Run Firefox in Safe Mode:

• Exit Firefox, make sure it’s not running.On Windows, open the > Task Manager (right-click on > taskbar and select > Task Manager from menu), switch to the > Processes tab, click on > Name to sort entries alphabetically and try to locate > firefox.exe. If you still find it, right-click on the > firefox.exe entry and select > End Process from the menu.
• Now run Firefox in Safe Mode.On Windows, open > Start > (All) Programs > Mozilla Firefox > Mozilla Firefox (Safe Mode)

• Do not select any of the options for Safe mode. You don’t want to make permanent changes, yet. Simply click > Continue in Safe Mode.

Saikat has recently written a post about How to Use Mozilla Firefox in Safe Mode, which provides more details and also explains how to launch it under Linux and Mac OS X.

If Safe Mode solved your problem, I recommend to proceed to step 5 and then either reset one customization after the other (i.e. add-ons, toolbars and controls, bookmarks, preferences, search engines) until Firefox runs smoothly without Safe Mode or directly proceed to step 6.

If Safe Mode did not help, proceed to step 5, followed by step 7.

5. Backup

Before you make any permanent changes, you should seriously consider backing up any valuable information, such as passwords, bookmarks and custom settings. Here are several different strategies that will help you back up just what you want. I recommend to make separate backups for bookmarks, passwords and extensions, rather than entire profile backups. Chances are you’ll also import the issue, if you import your entire old profile into a new fresh Firefox profile or installation.

For all manual backup strategies you’ll need to find your Firefox Profile. Check this mozillaZine page for a list of operating systems and where to find the profile folder. In Windows XP it should be located under C:\Documents and Settings\user name\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\profile name

Backup Bookmarks: This can be done manually. Go to > Bookmarks > Organize Bookmarks > Import and Backup > Backup and select a target. Instead of clicking > Backup you can also click > Export HTML… Later you can import your bookmarks via the same strategy.

Backup Passwords: If Firefox is still rather stable and doesn’t crash, you can save your passwords using the Password Exporter extension. Otherwise, there is a manual way to do it. Navigate to your Firefox profiles folder and copy the following files: “signons.txt“, “signons2.txt” and “key3.db“. To restore, simply replace new instances of these files with your backup copies and voilà, your saved passwords are back.

Backup Extensions: With a stable version of Firefox, you can try to use the FEBE (Firefox Environment Backup Extension) extension. Otherwise I recommend to backup the entire profile.

Backup entire Profile: Again, if Firefox is stable enough to install an extension, you can try several different backup or sync tools. We have previously covered Weave. Otherwise I recommend MozBackup, a standalone utility that will backup your Firefox profile. If you don’t trust tools, you can again make a manual backup. Simply copy your entire profile folder.

Mark has also written a post about how to backup Firefox preferences.

6. New Profile

Creating a new profile will give you a quick way out of your issue in case Safe Mode fixed your problem. With a new profile you’ll start from scratch – no custom settings, no extensions, no plugins.

• Exit Firefox, make sure it’s not running.On Windows, open the > Task Manager (right-click on > taskbar and select > Task Manager from menu), switch to the > Processes tab, click on > Name to sort entries alphabetically and try to locate > firefox.exe. If you still find it, right-click on the > firefox.exe entry and select > End Process from the menu.
• Run a command prompt and load > firefox.exe -profilemanager
  In Windows go to > Start > Run and type > firefox.exe -profilmanager into the command line.

• In the window that will pop up select > Create Profile… and do so.
• Then select > your new profile and click > Start Firefox.

If this fixed your problem you can begin to import your essential backups, as described in step 5. But be wary of importing your issue and try to import as little as possible. In other words: ditch some of those excessive extensions and plugins!

If creating a new profile didn’t help, although Safe Mode helped, you can either return to step 4 and do a complete reset from Safe Mode or – if that doesn’t help either – I’m afraid you’re stuck with step 7.

7. Re-Installation

This is the last resort. If resetting or creating a new profile didn’t help, then your issue sits much deeper and you’ll need to completely remove Firefox from your system and do a fresh installation. Here’s how you should go about this process.

• Remove Firefox using the tools your operating system provides.In Windows, go to > Start > Control Panel > Ad or Remove Programs and uninstall > Firefox.
• Now rename, move or delete your Firefox profile folders (see step 5 for locating folders in Windows).
• Reboot your computer.
• Reinstall Firefox.

If this fixed your issue, you can import your backups as described in step 5. As mentioned previously, be careful, you may also re-import your problem!

If none of the above helped you probably have a very serious issue! You need expert help and I suggest you post your issue and what you have tried to resolve it at the mozillaZine Forums. Best of luck!

Additional Information

There are a few more tricks and things you can do to improve the performance of Mozilla Firefox and we have previously covered a few of them. Maybe they will help you in the first place.

Are you on XP? Is Firefox still crashing on you and none of these Mozilla Firefox troubleshooting tips helped? Try running Firefox in compatibility mode. Right-click on your > Firefox icon and select > Properties. Go to the > Compatibility tab and select > Run this program in compatibility mode for: and choose > Windows 2000 from the menu. Click > Apply to confirm.

Faster Browsing! James has written about 5 Speedy Tips for Faster Browsing in Firefox. For example you can automatically load the next page, use keyboard shortcuts or download files faster.

Reduce Load Time! Matt had a story about How To Reduce Firefox 3 Load Time on Windows. It involves 3 geeky steps that are very well described in his post.

Need for Speed? Mahendra recently wrote The Ultimate Guide To Speeding Up Firefox 3.5, a post you should definitely check out if you’re only having minor speed problems.

Clear Bulk Data on Shut Down! This is useful if you’re sharing your computer and you don’t want anyone to see what you’ve been browsing for. At least regularly clearing the Cache is something you should consider. If you want to know how to do that automatically, check out Mark’s post on how to Set Firefox To Clear Temp Files, History etc. On Shut Down.

Which extensions should I use? Good question! Only the ones you really, really need of course. Also you should look into some of the security and privacy extensions we have covered in the past. Check out Varun’s post about 10+ Best Firefox Security and Privacy Addons as well as Dave’s post about Keeping Safe On The Web: 8 Firefox Addons For Privacy And Security (some are redundant of course).

Still having issues? You tried all of the above, you searched the mozillaZine for known issues with Firefox, you posted your situation on the mozillaZine Forums and you’re still stuck with a non-functional browser? Incredible! Well, you may not ever become happy with Firefox. May I suggest switching to another browser, such as Chrome as David reports or Opera, which is recommended by Laurence?

Disclaimer

Unfortunately, we’re not able to provide adequate Firefox support here, especially not across various operating systems. Rather than posting your specific issues in reply to this article, I recommend to post them in the mozillaZine Forums. Dozens of experts will review your situation and try to solve the problem with you.

However, if you would still like to share your issue, we will try our best to point you into the right direction. And if any of the guidelines above helped to solve your problem, we would love to hear your feedback in the comments!

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How to Trace an IP Address to a PC & How to Find Your Own

An IP (Internet Protocol) address is as unique to a computer as a fingerprint is to us. An IP address enables one networked device to talk to the next. The downside of this inter-connectedness is that a logical location provided by the IP address is an open arms invitation to spammers and hackers. The art of war necessitates the importance of knowing who your ‘attacker’ is. Being able to trace an IP address to a PC is a direct way to remove the cloak of anonymity from a computer communicating with your own.

An IP address is a series of digits separated by dotted decimals and represented from 0.0.0.0 to 256.256.256.256. Currently we are following the Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4), although the successor ‘version 6’ has been standardized.

A good hacker will take steps to prevent his IP from being revealed. A spammer might hide behind a proxy server. It is also important to remember that locating an IP address using online tools does not reveal the physical address of the guy on the computer. The basic tools merely tell us the location of the ISP providing the connection by using publicly available information. To go beyond that and actually nail down the guy sending you the dirty emails would require the law to be in the loop.

Stefan’s post on How to Trace Your Emails Back to the Source is required reading for a very useful application of IP address tracking. An interesting comment has been made by a reader who says that he uses IP address tracing to ‘find out the origin of potential customers who send e-mails and make inquiries through his company’s website’.

In the lines that follow, I am taking Stefan’s post as a stepping stone and extending it by listing sites which serve as tools to trace an IP address to a PC. Any one should be enough but is there any harm in bookmarking a few more?

Part 1: Trace an IP Address to the Country and City of Origin

MyIpTest.com

This web service provides a whole range of geolocation services. Included tools are IP Lookup, Reverse IP lookup Email trace, Traceroute, Ping tool among others. Also of use is a handy link which you can use to get someone else’s IP. Field the IP address in the IP address location box and the results give you the geolocation info behind the address and a marker on a Google Map. A Firefox experimental add-on is also available from the Firefox Add-ons gallery.

Geotool

A single field box for the IP address or host name, and the information follows. Geotool also uses Google Maps to depict the geographical location of the originating IP address. Geotool’s Firefox add-on shows a country flag representing the location of the current IP address (or website) and gives one click quick access to detailed location and web server information.

HostIP

HostIP says that it’s a community driven project to resolve IP addresses. At present it has 8,886,729 entries in its database. You can contribute information to the database and the database is accessible to all. The site’s FAQ goes into the motivation behind the community project. The project is a buildup as an alternative to commercial geolocation databases. The site also provides a Firefox add-on which unfortunately, is not compatible with the latest version of the browser.

DomainTools

This Whois Lookup search service provides a spiffy domain name lookup service along with IP address searching. The information is comprehensive including contact data-like listed telephone numbers and email address of the hosting service. The Whois access is free while other domain tools (the Power Tools) come with the paid options.

Arul John’s Utilities

A simple box and a simple IP address tracking service. You can also add the IP tracker to your website as a Google gadget.

IP-Address

IP-Address has three information pages which are of use to us – the homepage of IP-Address detects your IP, IP-Tracer locates the source of any IP address and Email Trace which nails the location of the senders IP address. With Email Trace, we simply need to paste the email header info in the box provided to get details about the sender.

IP Address Location

The web service provides different web tools for IP addressing. With an input you can find the exact location of any IP address plus the OS used, DNS, IP address range of the country, country code and country flag. The integrated Geolocator and a world map narrows down to the city and country. Also included is a tool to check the validity of an email address. According to the site, its IP database is updated every 48 hours.

Part 2: How to Find Your Own IP Address

An IP address is akin to a home address but really, it is not as simple. Lots of geek speak and networking lingo would be required to explain what’s it’s all about. The 7 online tools covered not only give you the location of a foreign IP address but yours too as soon as you hit their landing page. There are many online services which decipher your IP address in a flash. Here are a few from the swarm -

• WhatIsMyIPAddress
• IP Chicken
• Trace My IP
• IP Address Report
• My IP Address

That’s the quick and easy way. But what if you wanted to do it on your own using just your OS?

Here’s the how for Windows –

• Go to Start – Run. Type in cmd to bring up the command prompt.
• On the command prompt, type in ipconfig/all and hit enter.

  

• Basic information of your network interfaces is listed along with your device’s IP address.

  

(Please note that your IP address may be static or dynamic depending on how the DHCP server that’s assigns the IPs is configured.)

The ISP service provider knows exactly where we are located. With the tools mentioned here, at best we can find the approximate area (even though a city is a large area!). It’s still useful…and sometimes it’s fun too.

Have you ever had to use IP tracking? Tell us why and how…

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

12 Best Websites For Nintendo Fanboys

The Nintendo fanboy. It’s a peculiar breed of gamer exceedingly obsessed with all things Nintendo.

They’re people "who spend their free time (and probably their work time) talking about how great Nintendo is," according to Urban Dictionary, and they’ll defend the company to death.

Are you one of them? There could be one in your life, or maybe you’re loyal to the big N yourself. Where exactly do all these fanboys hang out on the Web? Let’s have a look-see at some of the best websites for Nintendo fanboys.

Club Nintendo

Club Nintendo is a loyalty program that offers members rewards for collecting points.

Once you join Club Nintendo, it’s simply, really. You register certain first-party hardware and software titles by Nintendo and complete surveys. In doing so, you’ll earn Coins that can be redeemed for products in the rewards catalog.

Nintendo8

Relive the magic of the good old NES days with Nintendo8.com.

With an array of classic Nintendo 8-bit games like the Super Mario Bros. series, Bomberman, Galaga, and Contra, no download is necessary. You just play your favorite titles right in your browser and it’s all free.

Learn more about how to play old school games on your computer here.

Nintendo Online Store

The official Nintendo Online Store offers anything a Nintendo gamer would need.

From parts, accessories, and manuals for your system, to magazines, player’s guides, and trading cards, and even toys, clothing, and gifts, the website is a Nintendo shopper’s paradise.

Miyamoto Shrine

Nintendo legend and fanboy heartthrob Shigeru Miyamoto has his own dedicated fan website. MiyamotoShrine.com is all about the creator of the franchises of Mario, Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda, and more.

As for why the website was ever created? "Because we find him sexy" is unsurprisingly one of the many reasons.

GoNintendo

GoNintendo is a popular one-stop shop for all the latest Nintendo scoops and news.

The website is continuously updated, making it a favorite destination to keep fans occupied and happy.

Nintendo Power

One of the longest running remaining video game publications, Nintendo Power is a monthly news and strategy magazine. You’ll have to check out the magazine itself for most of the content, but the website is worthwhile to catch a sneak peak at the latest issues, with sample pages routinely made available for free download.

Nintendo Papercraft

For those interested in paper models, there’s Nintendo Papercraft.

The website offers tons of free and downloadable guides to building papercrafts themed to Nintendo characters and games, including Animal Crossing, Kirby, Star Fox, and much more.

Iwata Asks

"Iwata Asks" interviews give fans a rare glimpse into what goes on inside the world of Nintendo. The big N’s president Satoru Iwata asks developers questions about upcoming games or products, and the whole transcript is published on official Nintendo websites.

Interviews have been done about the Nintendo DSi, Wii Fit, Wii MotionPlus, and most recently Wii Sports Resort.

Nintendo Comics System

The Nintendo Comics System was a short-lived series of comic books published by Valiant Comics between 1990 and 1991. The comics are hard to come by, but luckily, scans of the books are available for free online.

The series featured popular Nintendo characters and games, including Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, and Captain N: The Game Master.

VGMusic

Those classic Nintendo tunes can be heard once again with VGMusic.com. The website’s directory of Nintendo music has close to 4,000 MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) files to listen to, including a long list of sounds and music from classic titles.

For more gaming soundtracks, check out the top 3 sites for video game music.

Torrel

A $50 shirt may be a bit on the steep side, but for the Nintendo fanboy, money is certainly no object when it comes to Torpedo Ted or Bomb-omb.

Torrel is one of a limited number of companies that produce officially licensed Nintendo clothing, and their website offers a variety of urban wear, including shirts, hoodies, and jackets.

A full list of other Nintendo apparel manufacturers and their products is available here.

Nintendo Database

With everything from its classic arcade hits to the current generation, the Nintendo Database (NinDB) archives information on all the video games developed and published by Nintendo.

You’ll find titles from the home consoles of NES through Wii, portable systems from Virtual Boy to DS, and even classic arcade and Color TV Game systems. NinDB is a definitive resource for everything Nintendo.

If you have a favorite Nintendo website, be sure to let us know about it in the comments.