Intro
Why hide?
Hiding does not mean u are coward. For this reason stealth planes are designed.
Sometimes battles were won w/o knowing who the actual heroes were!
Today the digital world is another battle ground, yr contents are the weapons,
and yr launching position could be anywhere.
U must hide becos most sites record and/or display yr IP to other people who
might later harm u or cause u to end up in jail just because u are different.
Yr IP can pin point yr location, N combine this with the time log
it can reveal yr true identity N disclose yr privacy,
What is IP
IP is some kind of yr identity card no - or yr phone no in real world.
Without it u can't communicate in N out in this web,
unless, off course, u are on yr own, ie IP=127.0.0.1 (u are talking to yr own self)
The web is composed of servers and clients. Each server is driven by programs
(daemons in unix term) written by somebody or some group of people.
The servers could be serving many things (content) from one location such as http, ftp, irc etc.
U can imagine the servers as chefs in the kitchen. Drinks server will serve u drinks - and food servers will serve u food - u are the visitor/client - think something like that.
Fortunately there are tricks to hide yr IP N show another
IP to the site u visit (ask the waiter to get the drink for u)
The method varies - depending on which program N which server and which program u are using.
I shall concentrate on Windows only since a lot of u out there are using them...
Technical IP details
Details about IP are available almost complete at these FAQ
Or browse the RFC
Original IP
Before u start hiding u must know yr original IP. There are a few ways in Windows 95/98 or unix:
- Go to Start/Run and type the command winipcfg That will bring up a network screen with your IP address and other values.
- Go to Start-Program-MSDOS Prompt then type netstat -r
- With java settings enabled in yr browser select Java test IP
- With Unix based system try ifconfig -a
U can't destory yr original IP - but u can make it unreal (packet manipulation using C) or hide it (bouncing via other servers)