Locate My IP

Question: Where on my computer do I find my IP address number?
-Anon.

Answer: Everyone connected to the Internet has an IP or Internet Protocol address. It's a set of numbers separated by dots. Something like 192.168.1.1 and is the Internet equivalent of a phone number.

Each segment of the IP number can have a value as high as 255 and as low as 0.

Essentially an IP address is a unique identifier that is used to route information from the Internet to the requesting machine.

Your computer's IP address will never be the same as someone else. There is one exception to this rule. If your computer is on a network behind a corporate firewall - that's a computer between a network and the Internet - then you could have an IP address unique to your network, but not to all networks.

Just as your phone extension on a company phone list could be the same as someone else's at another company. Of course it wouldn't conflict because your phone extension is unique to your company.

Your local IP address could be one of these "inside" IPs.
If you connect to the web directly, finding your IP should be easy.
If you have a cable modem you have an IP address that never changes. If you are connected via a DSL connection your IP will change each time you drop a connection or reboot.

If you connect via a modem the Internet Service Provider you use automatically assigns a different IP number each time you connect.
In Windows 95 and 98, the best way to find you current IP address is to run winipcfg.exe. Go to START then Run then type winipcfg in the "open" box and click "ok".

In the pulldown box select your network card and click "More Info>>" the IP address assigned to your computer will appear in the
IP Address box.

In Windows XP or 2000, click run and then "cmd" and then OK. A black box will open. At the prompt (C:> or something like it) type "ipconfig" and hit the enter key. This will show you your computer's IP address for each network device (such as an ethernet card and wireless card, or modem) as well as other settings if you are connected to a network. In thevent that you are connected to a network, the IP address will be the internal address on your network. Likely something like 192.168.x.x.

This isn't the IP address used to identify you on the Internet (think of it as a telephone extension number). To get the IP address that IDs you on the Internet click here.