Newbie Girl With a Question.

[BasementJaxx]

Hi all.. I found this site today and Registered, lol via the post with the register link 5465465465465565546554645 times!!

Name is Jaxx..

I'm a gamer & I have a question that hopefully someone can help me with.

I visit a forum for the game I play and am close to gaining admin status on the server, but when I was granted a higher access to the forum.. I realized that everyone's IP address is listed right next to the post. - Including mine. I also noticed that the two most computer savy admins have theirs hidden.. and ----- appears instead of the IP address.

Is there anything I can do about protecting my IP? A program, a tweak??? What can I do to hide my IP as much as possible, without compromising easy usage?

Any links, old posts or new thoughts would be greatly appreciated.


Thank you

On a side note.. I was at a second hand store and ran across The Cybertheif and the Samurai for 25cents lol .. so Im on page 50... its interesting to me.. as I didnt realize all of this...
Anyone else read this?

A true newb,

Jaxx

[a morning chill]

Welcome to the forums, Kelly Hope you enjoy your time with us.

In regards to your IP address showing, we need to cover a few peices of ground concerning the forums. First, are the IP's visible to normal users, or just the admins(or similar rank)? If the IP addresses of the poster are visible to ALL of the users, then that configuration needs to be changed so that only administrators can see that information. Why? Cuts down on possible mischief if someone ends up taking an argument they lost and turning it into a Denial of Service attack.

Now, in regards to protecting your IP address, the first thing that needs to be done is dispelling the myth of the "IP danger". All too often, and for far too long, it has been thought that having someone's IP address means you could have complete and total control over their computer. This is highly incorrect, so please understand that even if they do obtain your IP address, there is very little they can do with it. If you are still worried, look into properly securing your Operating system. Shut off programs you are not using, services you are not using, and turn off network protocols (like file and printer sharing (or SAMBA)) that are not in use. Disable things that you will not be using so that it leaves one less door for little kids to crawl through.

If you still find yourself a bit concerned, look into downloading and installing Kerio Firewall (assuming you are on windows, use iptable for linux). Can't think of the link right now, as I just woke up, but a quick google search should make it very easy for you. The firewall will protect outgoing and incoming traffic, keeping bad things out and bad things in.

If you need assistance in specific OS configuration or firewall usage, ask away. We will be more than happy to help!

[thehorse13]

so please understand that even if they do obtain your IP address, there is very little they can do with it.

Are you sure you don't want to rethink this statement?

[dinowuff]

Horse you beat me to it! Bummer

[BasementJaxx]

Thx for responding..
The Ip is only accessible for admin and people becoming admins (me)..so no the hundreds of people can't view it...

I know those folks are safe.. and no one really has a reason to invade my pc... but im kind of worried.. as ive been a victim of identity theft a few years back...this was before i knew what a firewall was.

Now I dont think I am doing any better now..

Right now I am running Mcafee security center... which has four compenents.. virus scan, personal firewall, privacy service and spamkiller. Now only three work for me ,...the privacy service wont install properly ...as it says I am missing a central.dll....whatever the hell that is...lol...its been this way for a few months and its on auto-update. I also have my windows firewall on ..whether that does anything really or not i donno.. and today I told my firewall to block the remote assistance feature of xp, i didnt understand it ,,..but I dont need it and it sounds like it leaves something open..


Is mcafee adequate..?

What can I really do to help protect my Ip, myself.

Anyway .. rant ..rant..

One more thing.. I use winmx to download.. is this a huge security risk?

Thanks again

Jaxx

Originally posted here by a morning chill
Welcome to the forums, Kelly Hope you enjoy your time with us.

In regards to your IP address showing, we need to cover a few peices of ground concerning the forums. First, are the IP's visible to normal users, or just the admins(or similar rank)? If the IP addresses of the poster are visible to ALL of the users, then that configuration needs to be changed so that only administrators can see that information. Why? Cuts down on possible mischief if someone ends up taking an argument they lost and turning it into a Denial of Service attack.

Now, in regards to protecting your IP address, the first thing that needs to be done is dispelling the myth of the "IP danger". All too often, and for far too long, it has been thought that having someone's IP address means you could have complete and total control over their computer. This is highly incorrect, so please understand that even if they do obtain your IP address, there is very little they can do with it. If you are still worried, look into properly securing your Operating system. Shut off programs you are not using, services you are not using, and turn off network protocols (like file and printer sharing (or SAMBA)) that are not in use. Disable things that you will not be using so that it leaves one less door for little kids to crawl through.

If you still find yourself a bit concerned, look into downloading and installing Kerio Firewall (assuming you are on windows, use iptable for linux). Can't think of the link right now, as I just woke up, but a quick google search should make it very easy for you. The firewall will protect outgoing and incoming traffic, keeping bad things out and bad things in.

If you need assistance in specific OS configuration or firewall usage, ask away. We will be more than happy to help!

[BasementJaxx]

Originally posted here by a morning chill
If you are still worried, look into properly securing your Operating system. Shut off programs you are not using, services you are not using, and turn off network protocols (like file and printer sharing (or SAMBA)) that are not in use. Disable things that you will not be using so that it leaves one less door for little kids to crawl through.

I know i sound like a moron..---- i would turn off network protocols if i knew where to find them..or really what you refer to.

[Tiger Shark]

This is highly incorrect, so please understand that even if they do obtain your IP address, there is very little they can do with it.

You know... You would really be surprised.....

I have found several people simply by finding their _fixed_ IP address...... Right down to home address.... After the home address you'd be even more surprised how much more info that can be found publicly that could be used to harass you by someone with malicious intent. The less people that know your fixed IP address the better. BTW, before you tell me that you can get it changed... You are right.... But you need to remember that the all knowing internet is like an elephant... It remembers everything you did under that IP, including published emails on lists etc. All that info about you is still out there.... which leads to the other information and, in time, to your new IP address......

No information given out is the standard to aim for..... Not, "ahhh, don't worry about it, it's harmless"..... 'cos it ain't....

[Outer_Heaven]

[qoute]no one really has a reason to invade my pc[/quote]

Even if you don't have any personal information stored on it and only use it for gaming, there is still always plenty of reasons for someone to ivade your pc, that is unless you don't care about it at all. You might not have any information of value to anyone whatsoever, but there is always someone who might just want to crash it for the hell of it. They could invade it and use it to send virus' and other malware to other people's pc's. It's your discretion.

Do you have any anti-spyware or anti-adaware installed? If not, download spybot and ad-aware at the minimum, and scan regularly. I scan once a week at the least, and whenever I think there might be suspicious activity. Do you download the Windows security upadates, or check their website for recent updates, about, I don't know, every couple weeks or so? If not, do so.

Again, there is always plenty of reasons to invade your pc.

[Iron-Kurton]

Kelly,

If you are really worried just about your IP address showing, maybe an option would be to go through a proxy -- it's basically the middle man in an internet connection. You tell the proxy where you want to go (which URL), the proxy gets it for you and makes it appear as if the proxy requested the page (hence, the proxy's IP shows up on your forums).

Now, where to get a *reliable, safe* proxy server (because, after all, all your data is going through them now)? I was hoping the generous AO community could help me out on this one. I don't know of any public ones off the top of my head nor even where to look for one because I haven't done this in years. The only one I still remember is www.anonymizer.com, but it could be soooo outdated.

Anyway, I hope this helps,

-ik

[BasementJaxx]

I do have adaware. spydoctor and spybot search and destroy...I run them about once or twice a week... when i do a defrag and registry cleanups.. I update before I use them..
windows is on auto update..

I was meaning a specific reason for someone to invade me.. the general reasons apply to all newbs like me .. tis why im trying to learn.

Originally posted here by Outer_Heaven
[qoute]no one really has a reason to invade my pc

Even if you don't have any personal information stored on it and only use it for gaming, there is still always plenty of reasons for someone to ivade your pc, that is unless you don't care about it at all. You might not have any information of value to anyone whatsoever, but there is always someone who might just want to crash it for the hell of it. They could invade it and use it to send virus' and other malware to other people's pc's. It's your discretion.

Do you have any anti-spyware or anti-adaware installed? If not, download spybot and ad-aware at the minimum, and scan regularly. I scan once a week at the least, and whenever I think there might be suspicious activity. Do you download the Windows security upadates, or check their website for recent updates, about, I don't know, every couple weeks or so? If not, do so.

Again, there is always plenty of reasons to invade your pc. [/QUOTE]