How to Find the IP Address of a Remote Computer

The greater part of you might be interested to know how to discover the IP address of your companion's PC or the IP of the individual with whom you might visit. Provided that this is true, then this post will unquestionably bail you out. 

In this post I'll demonstrate to you best practices to discover the IP address of a remote PC in basic strides. 

How to Capture the IP Address? 

I have made a PHP script to make it less demanding for you to catch the IP address of your preferred any PC. Here is a well ordered procedure to discover the IP address: 

Download the IP Finder Script (IP_Finder.ZIP) that I have made from the accompanying connection:

1. Download the IP-Finder-Script
2. Open a new account in X10Hosting (or any other free host that supports PHP).
3. Extract the IP_Finder.ZIP file and upload the two files ip.php andip_log.txt into the root folder of your hosting account using the File Manager.
4. You can rename the ip.php to any name of your choice.
5. Set the permission to 777 on ip_log.txt.

Now, you are all set to find the IP address of your friend or any remote computer of your choice. All you have to do is send the link of ip.php to your friend or the person with whom you’re chatting. Once the person click’s on the link, his/her IP address is recorded in the file ip_log.txt.

For your better understanding let’s take up the following example:

Suppose you open a new account in X10hosting.com with the subdomain asabc, then your IP Finder link would be:

http://abc.x10hosting.com/ip.php

You have to send the above link to you friend via email or while chatting and ask him to visit that link. Once your friend clicks on the link, his IP address will be recorded along with the Date and Time in the ip_log.txt file. After recording the IP address, the script will redirect the person to google.com so as to avoid any suspicion.

To find the recorded IP address, check the logs using the following link:

http://abc.x10hosting.com/ip_log.php

The sample log will be in the following format:

79.92.144.237 Thursday 07th of May 2009 05:31:27 PM
59.45.144.237 Thursday 07th of May 2009 05:31:28 PM
123.92.144.237 Thursday 07th of May 2009 05:31:31 PM

NOTE: You have to replace abc with your subdomain name.

I hope this helps. Express your opinion and suggestions through comments.

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Block or Redirect Unwanted Websites Using HOSTS File

The hosts document is one of the fascinating and valuable component of both Windows and Linux working systems that gives numerous convenient choices in tending to network hubs. For example, you can utilize the hosts document to square irritating promotions, pop-ups, pennants, porn locales, or even divert one site to another. 

In this post I will demonstrate to you best practices to play around with the hosts document to accomplish a portion of the previously mentioned employments. 

What is a hosts File? 

The hosts record is much the same as whatever other computer document that is utilized by the working system to outline and domain names on to their relating IP addresses. 

As it were, the point at which you write "google.com" on your program's address bar, your computer will search for the hosts document to check whether it contains the comparing IP address for the domain name you wrote (google.com). On the off chance that if no passage is available in the hosts document, the demand is then passed on to the DNS (Domain Name System) server to get the IP address. 

hosts File versus DNS 

With regards to settling the hostnames, the hosts record is given the principal need over the Domain Name System. Much of the time, the hosts document remains unconfigured on the working system and thus the DNS is utilized by the computer to determine the domain names to their relating IP addresses. 

In any case, if the hosts document is found to contain a legitimate section for a given hostname or domain name, then this is grabbed and utilized by the working system.

Where is the hosts File Located?

Windows: In case of the Windows operating system, the hosts file is located at:

%systemroot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

NOTE: In most cases this should be: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts

Unix/Linux: In case of Linux it is located at:

/etc/hosts

How to Block a Website?

To Block a particular site, you should simply include another section for that site in the hosts document. I would like to reinforcement the first record and make another one as opposed to adjusting it. Along these lines, if something turns out badly, you can simply erase it and reestablish the first one! All things considered, here is a well ordered system on the most proficient method to make another hosts document on Windows:

1. Go to “My Computer” and you should see the “Menu bar” on top. In case ofVista and Win 7, just click “Alt” to unhide the “Menu bar”.
2. Now in the menu bar, click on “Tools -> Folder Options”. In the “View” tabuncheck the option that says: “Hide extensions for known file types” and click on “OK”.

1. Open a new text pad (New Text Document.txt) and rename it to: hosts. You will get a pop-up message with a warning. Just click on “Yes”.
   Please note that the renamed file hosts should not have any extensionsuch as
   hosts.txt.
2. Open the hosts file using the notepad. Now let us assume that you want to block the sites Facebook and Youtube on your computer. For this all you have to do is add the following lines to your hosts file:
   127.0.0.1       facebook.com
   127.0.0.1       www.facebook.com
   127.0.0.1       youtube.com
   127.0.0.1       www.youtube.com
   Each entry should be placed on an individual line. The IP address and the hostname should be separated by a space or a tab. In this way, you can block any given website by just pointing it to the IP address 127.0.0.1.
3. Navigate to %systemroot%\system32\drivers\etc. Here you should see the original hosts file, rename it to hosts_bak. Just copy and paste the newhosts file that you have created. That’s it. You’ve now successfully blocked those websites from loading on your computer.
   If you are using Vista/Win 7 you may have to take ownership of the originalhosts file before renaming it.

How to Redirect a Website?

Suppose you want to redirect Friendster.com to Google.com, all you have to do is just add the following lines to your hosts file:

74.125.236.72       friendster.com
74.125.236.72       www.friendster.com

Here 74.125.236.72 is the IP address of Google.com. To find out the IP address of any given website, just go to command prompt and ping it. For example: ping google.com. You should get a ping response that displays the IP address as shown below:

From now on, whenever you type “friendster.com” on your browser, you will be redirected to “google.com”.

How does a hosts File work?

Whenever you block a website using the hosts file, you point it to the IP address127.0.0.1 which in fact is the IP address of your own computer. In other words, the IP 127.0.0.1 points to your own computer and doesn’t exist outside.

So, whenever you type the URL of a website for which an entry is present in thehosts file, your computer will load the IP as 127.0.0.1 instead of the actual one and tries to establish a connection with this IP address (127.0.0.1) but fails. As a result the website doesn’t load at all.

The redirection of the website works by pointing the domain name of one website to the IP address of another website (as configured by the hosts file) instead of its original IP address. So, whenever you type friendster.com, it is pointed to Google.com’s IP address and thus, the Google page loads up instead of the actual page from friendster.com.

How to Block the Annoying Ads?

I have found a great solution to keep all the annoying ads, banners, pop-ups and other parasites at bay by using a pre-configured hosts called MVPS hosts file. This hosts file contains a long list of entries to block all those annoying ads and pop-ups that usually load while you are surfing the Internet. You can also receive regular updates on this to stay up-to-date. You can download MVPS hosts file from the link below:

Download MVPS hosts

If you are playing around with the hosts file and something goes wrong, just delete the hosts file itself and rename the original file from hosts_bak to hosts. This should bring back everything to normal. I hope this post on hosts file will help you block unwanted websites on your computer. Waiting for your comments. 

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How a Domain Name is Hijacked and How to Protect it

In this post I will tell you about how the domain names are hacked and how they can be protected. The act of hacking domain names is commonly known as Domain Hijacking. For most of you, the term “domain hijacking” may seem to be like an alien. So, let me first tell you what domain hijacking is all about.

Domain hijacking is a process by which Internet Domain Names are stolen from its legitimate owners. It is also known as domain theft. Before we can proceed to know how to hijack domain names, it is necessary to understand how the domain names operate and how they get associated with a particular web server (website).

The Operation of a Domain Name is as Follows:

Any website say for example gohacking.com consists of two parts. The domain name (gohacking.com) and the web hosting server where the files of the website are actually hosted. In reality, the domain name and the web hosting server (web server) are two different parts and hence they must be integrated before a website can operate successfully. The integration of domain name with the web hosting server is done as follows:

1. After registering a new domain name, we get a control panel where in we can have a full control of the domain.
2. From this domain control panel, we point our domain name to the web server where the website’s data (web pages, scripts etc.) are actually hosted.

For a clear understanding let me take up a small example:

John registers a new domain called “abc.com” from an X domain registration company. He also purchases a hosting plan from Y hosting company. He uploads all of his files (.html, .php, javascripts etc.) to his web server (at Y). From the domain control panel (of X) he configures his domain name “abc.com” to point to his web server (of Y).

Now, whenever an Internet user types “abc.com”, the domain name “abc.com” is resolved to the target web server and the web page is displayed. This is how a website actually works.

What Happens When a Domain Name is Hijacked?

Now, let us see what happens when a domain name is hijacked. To hijack a domain name, you just need to gain access to the domain control panel and point the domain name to some other web server other than the original one. So, to hijack a domain you need not gain access to the target web server.

For example, a hacker gets access to the domain control panel of  “abc.com”. From here the hacker re-configures the domain name to point it to some other web server (Z). Now whenever an Internet user tries to access “abc.com” he is taken to the hacker’s website (Z) and not to John’s original site (Y).

In this case the John’s domain name (abc.com) is said to be hijacked.

How the Domain Names are Hijacked?

To hijack a domain name, it is necessary to gain access to the domain control panel of the target domain. For this you need the following ingredients:

1. The domain registrar name for the target domain.
2. The administrative email address associated with the target domain.

These information can be obtained by accessing the WHOIS data of the target domain. To get access to the WHOIS data, go to whois.domaintools.com, enter the target domain name and click on Lookup. Once the whois data is loaded, scroll down and you’ll see Whois Record. Under this, you’ll get the “Administrative contact email address”.

To get the domain registrar name, look for the words something like: “Registered through:: XYZ Company”. Here XYZ Company is the domain registrar. In case if you do not find this, scroll up and you’ll see ICANN Registrar under the “Registry Data”. In this case, the ICANN registrar is the actual domain registrar.

The administrative email address associated with the domain is the backdoor to hijack the domain name. It is the key to unlock the domain control panel. So, to take full control of the domain, the hacker will have to hack the administrative email associated with it. 

Once the hacker takes full control of this email account, he will visit the domain registrar’s website and click on forgot password in the login page. There, he will be asked to enter either the domain name or the administrative email address to initiate the password reset process. Once this is done, all the details to reset the password will be sent to the administrative email address.

Since the hacker has the access to this email account, he can easily reset the password of domain control panel. After resetting the password, he logs into the control panel with the new password and from there he can hijack the domain within minutes.

How to Protect the Domain Name from Getting Hijacked?

The best way to protect the domain name is to protect the administrative email account associated with the domain. If you loose this email account, you loose your domain. You can read my earlier post on how to protect your email account from being hacked. Another best way to protect your domain is to go for a private domain registration.

When you register a domain name using the private registration option, all your personal details such as your name, address, phone and administrative email address are hidden from the public.

whenever a hacker performs a WHOIS lookup for your domain name, he will not be able to find your name, phone or the administrative email address. Thus, the private registration provides an extra security and protects your privacy. Even though it costs a few extra bucks, is really is worth for its advantages.

I hope that this article has helped you. You can express your feedback through comments.

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