When a call is made from one Skype user to another, certain packets are sent to start the call. If the right packets are blocked by the caller, then the recipient’s end of the call can be slightly delayed, and the call disconnected before any notification appears. The caller, however, will have obtained return packets containing the recipient’s IP address.

An IP address in itself can be bad news when it ends up in the wrong hands, but the flaw is deeper still. It’s possible to geolocate an IP address, and if a user has a mobile device with a data connection and Skype installed, a hacker could make numerous terminated calls to roughly work out the user’s movements.

Researchers also found that this method could be used to expose people using BitTorrent. Once an IP address was obtained through Skype, it could be compared to BitTorrent users in an attempt to find a match. The methods used were not targeted (out of 50,000 users, only 400 were matched with a Skype account) but does open the possibility of random blackmail by hackers or investigation by law enforcement.

How do you stop this threat? Your options are limited. Firewalls do not help unless you block Skype entirely. Blocking unknown contacts doesn’t work, either – the initial packets are still sent. It’s really up to Skype to fix this issue by changing their code. In the meantime, if you love to fileshare and you also use Skype, maybe you should stop one of those two activities.

Source: Futurity, Scribed

The main problem with that approach is that most ISPs change your IP on a regular basis. Some ISPs will give you a static IP – typically for a monthly premium – and such an IP can give you access from anywhere.

Alternatively, you can use DynDNS. This company specializes in solving exactly the problem you’re thinking of with a free Dynamic DNS setup – giving you a web address that will consistently point to your computer, even when your ISP changes your IP.

And if you just want one URL, it’s a free service.

How Free Dynamic DNS Works

Here’s the deal: you get an account at DynDNS, which provides you with a free URL. Then you set up your home network to inform DynDNS of your current IP on a regular basis – this can be done using the firmware in your router – most routers support such a free Dynamic DNS by default – or by installing free Dynamic DNS software on a computer on your network designed for this purpose.

Once everything is set up you’ll be able to access your home network from anywhere, using the URL provided to you by DynDNS.

Getting Started

Setting up DynDNS is easy. All you need to do is create a free Dynamic DNS account at their website, selecting a subdomain from their wide variety of domains.

Being the Linux enthusiast that I am, I choose “homelinux.com,” but the choice is largely aesthetic – just pick something you can remember easily.

Once your account is set up you’ll have a username and password you can use in order to use the service. What you need to do now is set up your home network to regularly report your IP to DynDNS.

Configure Your Router

The simplest way to do this is to configure your router to do so. How to do this varies depending on your brand and model of router, but for the most part the process goes something like this:

1. Type your router’s internal IP address into a web browser and hit “enter.” This will bring up your router’s web-based configuration.

2. Find the dynamic DNS option, and enter your settings.

On my Linksys router, this configuration looks something like this:

Typically all your router needs is your DynDNS username and password, so enter those and you’re good to go.

3. Apply your changes. This may shut down your router temporarily, but just start it up again.

Obviously configuring your router is the simplest way to do this, but if don’t have a router, or if your router doesn’t support DynDNS directly, you can download software here that can report your current IP to DynDNS.

Port Forwarding

Okay, so you’ve got your fancy URL now but attempting to use it to connect to your computer from elsewhere won’t help much unless you set up your router properly.

Your router essentially acts as a firewall, as all incoming requests are directed to it. Unless your router is specifically aware of what requests are going to come in, it will continue to block everything you try to connect to from outside your network. That’s where the magic of port forwarding comes in.

If you don’t know what a port is, the best analogy is that of an apartment number: if your IP address is like your street address, your port number is like your apartment number.

If your friend knows your street address, but not your apartment address, they’re not going to have much luck finding you. In the same way, if you’re connecting to your computer from somewhere else on the Internet you can’t just type your IP address: you need to specify which port you’re trying to access.

For example, popular remote-desktop software VNC uses 5900 as it’s default port. If I want to connect to one of my computers using VNC from outside my network – for example, from a web cafe – I need to make sure my router knows to forward all incoming requests to port 5900 to the computer I want to control.

Setting this up isn’t that difficult: it’s almost always possible from your router’s web-based configuration. On my Netgear router the setting screen looks something like this:

In the above example I’m setting up VNC to forward to my media center computer. Like setting up your router with DynDNS, be sure to apply your settings after you’ve added your new configuration.

If you’re not sure what port a particular program uses, you can either search that program’s configuration for the option to change it or search the program’s documentation.

There’s still more: the firewall on your computer may also block incoming requests, unless you set up your firewall to allow for connections on that port. Check your firewall’s documentation if you’re not sure how to do this.

Uses

VNC’s only one example of a program you can use this method to set up, of course. If you set up an FTP server on your computer you’ll be able to access your documents from everywhere. You could use this method to connect to any program’s WebUI, including the bittorrent client Deluge.

Basically anything you can connect to from within your network can be made to work Internet-wide with DynDNS, if you’re willing to set it up.

Testing

Testing your setup is easy: call a friend and see if they can connect to your computer using the programs you’ve set up.

Alternatively you could use a proxy service to connect to your computer. If you can connect through a proxy, after all, you’re connecting from outside your network.

Configure Modem

Some ISPs – such as Qwest in the Western United States – provide modems that are intended to function as wireless routers as well as modems. If you have such a modem you might find that DynDNS doesn’t work for you. If this is the case you need to configure your modem to forward all requests to your router, from where port forwarding can properly happen.

If you think this is happening to you, check out the website of your ISP or give them a call. More likely than not they’ll be able to help you.

Conclusion

I use DynDNS to connect to my home network from elsewhere, and it works like a charm. Sure, setting it all up requires you learn some networking skills in the process, but if you’re reading MakeUseOf you probably love learning stuff anyway. And you never know when such skills might come in handy.

What about you guys? Do you use DynDNS or a similar service to connect to your computer remotely? Do you have any questions about setting this all up? As always, feel free to discuss everything in the comments below.

But it gets a little more complicated when we throw dynamic IP addresses into the mix. Most of the time when you sign up for Internet service you are give a single “external IP” address. This external IP address can be split up so multiple computers or devices can get online.

You have probably see an IP address on this screen before:

The above example shows an external IP address set up. If this machine was using a dynamic IP address the check box would be checked for Obtain an IP address automatically.

When you take a external IP address and divide it up, you will use dynamic or Natted IP addresses. NAT stands for Network Address translation – translating one external address into multiple internal addresses. You can use a service called DHCP to assign computers dynamic IP addresses automatically when they start up.

Below you can see a basic diagram showing how a network is set up and operates. You will see the cable modem gets a Internet Address and the router assigns internal addresses, yet all the equipment on this home network can connect to the Internet. If you open up a browser and go to WhatIsMyIP all the machines will tell you they have the same external IP address.

In most homes we have a router connected to our internet modems. Some Internet Service Providers will give you a modem with a built in router. If this is your case you can imagine that the modem and the router is one unit. We will still refer to it as a router or as a modem. Just know that we are talking about the same thing in your situation. Here is an example of what a modem looks like:

This router is what does your Network address translation and assigns your computer or computer’s dynamic IP addresses. Without the router in place you would not be able to use your Dynamic IP address on the Internet. That is because these groups of dynamic IP addresses like 192.168.0.1 are reserved for internal networks.

You can see an example of what a router looks like here:

Chances are if you are reading this post you are not getting your dynamic IP address assigned to you. The first thing to do is make sure all your network equipment is turned on. This includes your Internet modem provided by your ISP, your router and if you are using a laptop and a built in Network Interface Adapter you will need to have your power cord connected as well.

If everything is plugged in the next thing to do would be to check your status lights on your modem. Are they all green? Do they say you are connected? They should look like the example of the modem two pictures up. If they do, this part is good and you can continue on to the next piece of your network. That is probably going to be your router. Are the lights blinking? Is there a connected or internet Led? Does it say you are connected? If not or you cannot determine this, you should reboot it. Simply pull the power cord and wait 5 seconds and then re-plug it in.

If this fixed the issue, your computer will tell you that it is obtaining an IP address and then it will tell you that it is connected.

We can think about an internal IP address as a extension on a company phone network. If you just dialed that number from your home you would not get connected. But if you dial the main company number and then the extension you will get connected. Just as a dynamic IP address could only be referred to on that network.

We have done quite a few router articles in the past including the following :

How To Secure Your D-Link Wireless Router – Susan
8 Tips To Effectively Boost Your Wireless Router Signal – Leon
Technology Explained: How Does a Router Work? – Guy
How To Turn An Old Router Into A Wireless Bridge – Jorge

I would love to field questions so if you have any please feel free to leave them in the comments!

I’ve covered ways you can have some fun with video, and how to use wi-fi webcams to configure a wireless security system. So what’s left? Well, one area I would like to cover is how to turn your webcam into an IP phone.

Almost everyone has used some form of VoIP communication that makes use of some configuration of voice, video, PC-to-PC calling or PC-to-Landline calling. Depending what software you download, you may discover that it doesn’t always offer all of these features. You might be able to utilize video-chat in an IM app, but you can’t call a landline. You might be able to make PC-to-Landline calls, but there’s no option to video conference.

Therefore, in this post I’d like to offer a roundup of both new and old applications that have one important thing in common – they incorporate your webcam for videoconferencing, and they allow you to use the software as an IP phone, making PC-to-Landline calls if you so wish.

Skype Now Offers Videochat

The fastest way to turn your webcam into an IP phone is probably simply to upgrade whatever version of Skype you’re running to the latest version. One of the newest (relatively) features of Skype is the ability to now initiate a video call with other Skype users. I was using Skype for both text chat and landline phone calls for quite some time before one of my friends from the UK suggested that we have a video chat. The video feature was news to me, but after I upgraded Skype, sure enough there was the “Video Call” button right under his name!

The screen layout for video chat on Skype is really simple, and most users love the fact that Skype keeps this window within Skype itself (not a new pop-up window), which means you can very easily flip between your video chat and any text chats that you might have going on at the same time.

My buddy wasn’t online during my test call, but here you can see the layout. The caller’s video appears in the larger square at the center of the screen, and you can see what you look like in the smaller “caller” box at the lower left. Volume and video controls are along the bottom of the screen. Of course, Skype does have the landline calling feature as well (which you can even conference into the videochat if you like, so it makes the cut!

SightSpeed – The Highest Quality Video Conferencing Available

I had to add SightSpeed to this list after I read a fantastic review in PC Mag about the top video quality this app offers. While I wasn’t really convinced that anything could outperform Skype (I’m a longtime Skype fan), to my pleasant surprise SightSpeed did. First of all, this impressive software offers a larger view of your contact (as well as you – the caller), and the video quality is without a doubt superior to any other video chat application I’ve ever used.

The SightSpeed demo test call went swimmingly well. Get it…swimmingly….as in, it’s a fish tank… Ahem, so anyway, in addition to the webcam video chat feature, you can click on “Telephone” at the top menu and call a landline if you wish (at a low cost-per-minute, just like all of the others.)

This qualifies SightSpeed to our list of webcam IP phone apps. However, I also wanted to mention another very cool feature that I discovered about this software. If you click on the “Video Mail & Blogs” menu option, you can actually record a video message (limited length with the free version) that you can email to whoever you like, or you can ask for the embed code so that you can embed your video message right on your blog. Now that’s very convenient, and very cool.

ooVoo Will Make You Go Ooooooooh

The last application I’d like to cover that features both high-quality video chat capability as well as landline phone access is ooVoo. One thing I do have to say about ooVoo is that the application interface is very slick.  I love the black and grey design and buttons with glowing blue highlights. Also, the in-chat angled views of each participant is a very nice touch.

The coolest part of this app is that with your account, you’re provided with a free link that you can send folks via email (or place on your blog) that lets people call you through their web browser without having to install ooVoo on their PC. The beauty of it is that the web interface they see looks almost identical to the application interface itself.

This picture above is a call initiated to me directly from Firefox. The view doesn’t look a whole lot different than from within ooVoo itself does it? I love it when people can call me without the need to install additional software – just think how easy it would be for your parents or grandparents to use it. As long as they have a webcam that’s already enabled and working – all they have to do is click the link and they’re connected to you.

Of course, ooVoo provides a dialing pad to call landlines (at affordable rates), but what I really wanted to point out is that just like SightSpeed, this app lets you record and send video messages to friends via email.

Unlike SightSpeed, there doesn’t appear to be any quick way to embed your message anywhere online. For more details on ooVoo, make sure to check out Wez’s detailed review of the app.

No matter which of these three webcam apps with IP phone capability you choose, you’re sure to be pleased with both the quality of these apps and how easy they are to set up and use. While I personally have always preferred Skype, I’m seriously considering switching over to SightSound after testing it out.

Do you have a favorite application that offers both video conferencing and VoIP in one package? Share your favorites in the comments section below.

However, bear in mind, that it is possible to find your location, but they would need a legal case against you to force your Internet Service Provider to hand over your details. However, if you are still worried and would like to surf the web anonymously, you will need to obtain a fake IP address to mask your online identity.

Before I get started, I should mention why people want to use a fake IP address.

1. They need to test if a web server is correctly configured.
2. A firewall has blocked them out of their own website, and they need to get back in.
3. They want to access something that they can’t in their location. For example Google Voice or Hulu.
4. They are required to connect to a VPN network.

There are many more reasons for masking your IP address, but I will not go there. There are a few ways in which you can do this.

Change Your Proxy Settings In Your Web Browser

A quick and easy way is to tell your web browser to use a proxy. So how on earth do you do that? It is quite simple actually. But first of all, you have to find a proxy to connect to. Digital Cyber Soft has an up to date list that you can use.

Just simple select a random proxy from the list.

Once you’ve picked one, just enter the settings.

In Firefox: Tools ““> Options ““> Advance ““> Network ““> Settings

Then just select Manual proxy configuration and enter the  proxy IP address in HTTP Proxy and the Port number. Hit OK.

In Internet Explorer: Tools ““> Internet Options ““> Connections ““> LAN Settings. Tick Use a proxy server for your LAN and enter the Address and Port number.

Hit OK. Once that is done, you can go to CanYouSeeMe and check that your IP is different to the one before you made the changes.

Install GlypeProxy On Your Web Server

If you own a webserver, you can install a free script called GlypeProxy. This script provides you with an admin control panel so you can see what sites visitors have been searching for and other cool features.

By installing it on your own server, you can ensure that no one will be stealing your information, they won’t show you ads and you will be much safer. Before you go ahead and do this, make sure you are allowed to install it by your web hosting provider.

There is also another script that does not give you an admin panel and that is phpProxy which  you can download at Sourceforge.

Install Software On Your Computer

Another way to mask your IP address or to use a fake one is to install software onto your computer. One such program is Hotspot Shield. It works by you downloading and installing a program onto your computer which creates a Virtual Private Network (or VPN) from your computer directly to one of their servers.

Use Web Proxies

One of the most common and easiest ways to hide your IP address is to use a web proxy. This is exactly the same as what I mentioned before in installing Glypeproxy, but it’s another script on another server. There are thousands of these on the internet, so its just a case of finding one that you like.

Some of the most popular, and better web proxies are:

• HideMyAss
• kproxy
• daveproxy
• Proxify
• anonymouse

Please use these sites at your own risk!

Connect to a VPN Network

By connecting to a VPN network such as your workplace or educational institute, when you browse the internet, your external IP address would be the place to which you are connected to. Once you connect to a VPN network, the rules of what you can do on the network will depend on the network you connect to. For example, they may block access to torrents and adult materials through their internet server.

Dave has previously discussed how to set up your own VPN with Hamachi.

So that is an overview on how you can mask yourself and use a fake IP address. However, please be very careful when you use these services, especially from other websites as you do not know what malicious code they may have put on their sites.

If you use a proxy, which one do you use? If you have any other tips, please tell us in the comments.

The first thing you want to do is go about creating an account over at Google Analytics. Why would I want to do that, you ask? Well, in my own experience, the service provides a tremendous amount of data, has a great user interface, is easy to install on any website, and, more importantly, is completely free of charge. It’s undoubtedly the easiest, cheapest and fast way of getting your visitors’ information, including their IP address or hostname.

If you already use any of the Google services, you can easily sign in with your existing credentials. The process of setting up your website with Google couldn’t be easier. You will be prompted to create a profile. A profile is basically a metaphor for a folder, where you can keep track of various aspects of your websites’ traffic. Each different domain will have its own separate profile. Select ‘Add Profile for a new domain‘ and enter your domain’s address and timezone.

The next page will generate a bit of code that you’ll have to insert in the header or footer of your website’s template. You have to do this because you  want to keep track of visitors across your website, not just the homepage. This way, no matter where the user navigates to (eg. mysite.com/secondpage), you will know about the total time spent, the pageview/unique visitor ratio and exit funnels.

How you add the code to your website varies dramatically – and requires the knowledge to manually access and edit your theme files. You probably set your own website up, so you must know how to do this. If you don’t know how, don’t panic, and instead search Google for ‘[service type] + edit theme OR Google Analytics‘. For example, ‘WordPress edit theme Google Analytics‘. There are plenty of guides out there that will show you how to add this bit of code.

In the latest version of the self-hosted WordPress, I only need to click on ‘Appearance‘ in the sidebar, ‘Editor‘ and choose from the right side list ‘footer.php‘. As a golden rule, insert the code before the last ‘</body></html>’ tags. They’ve also got a lot of support material over at the help page, which you might want to check out if in doubt.

Twenty-four hours later and you’ve got the first taste of website statistics. Be prepared to spend the rest of the evening looking at various graphs of source locations, connection speed, ISP, browser capabilities, operating systems, browsers, time on site and more. After that, the only problem that could arise is that you’ll wish you could install a tracking code in your girlfriend, in order to be plot the ‘visitor loyalty’ chart.

If you want to view individual IP addresses of your website’s visitors you need to click on Visitors>Network Properties>Hostnames, from the right sidebar, as illustrated in the screenshot above. There you will see a list of IP addresses and how many times each has visited the website. This can prove useful if your site is being attacked (defaced, DDOS-ed, etc.), as you can determine who your attacker is, or at least his proxy.

More views and information is accessible through the sidebar on the right: Visitors, Traffic Sources, Content and Goals. They’re pretty much self explanatory. The Visitors tab will contain information about – you’ve guessed it, the people who accessed your site. Traffic sources will identify who sent you traffic, be it a search engine, a referral or just organic. The Content tab will dutifully tell you how each page is doing when it comes to attracting eyeballs. Finally, Goals is used by e-commerce folks and companies to measure conversions, a fancy word for a sell.

You should definitely spare a minute to check out the quite extensive page of articles about blogging tools.